Bloodstained
by ScarletShadows97
Summary: Kirani Bloodwing is a high ranking member of the Thieves Guild. Her life changes drastically when Brynjolf tells her that she needs to steal an Elder Scroll from the Imperial City, and on her way home she is stopped by two vampires... Will she ever be able to return to Brynjolf, or has she changed too much to ever go back? Brynjolf/F!Non-Dragonborn fic. Full warnings inside.
1. Escape

_**A/N: **So, before I begin I would just like to say that this is the first fanfiction that I have ever written. I already have some of Bloodstained uploaded on my Wattpad account (which is __scarlet_shadows_) but I figured that I may as well put it here as well. I was inspired to write this for one of two reasons. A) I enjoy reading Skyrim fanfictions. B) I had a bunch of pretty good plot ideas. Feel free to leave comments/reviews, I would like to know what you think of the plot, characters etc. I hope you enjoy!**  
**_

_**DISCLAIMER: As you know, I do not own the Elder Scrolls. Therefore all of the credit involving the game goes to the talented people at Bethesda Softworks. In saying that, some of the characters, a bunch of plot stuffs and mystical happenings that happen in this story belong to me. **_

_**WARNING: **As the plot thickens, there will be a fair amount of gore, coarse language, sex and adult themes.**  
**_

* * *

_Isran's Letter  
It's been two years since the dragons returned to Skyrim. With the Dovakiin around to save the day, most of us would like to think that the threat is gone, but no. Amongst the ashes of the World Eater, a new enemy has lifted its head. The pure-blooded vampires have re-established their presence in Skyrim. Several villages have already felt the wrath of these bloodthirsty creatures; the Vigilants of Stendarr have been destroyed. The only barrier that now stands between humanity and Molag Bal's spawn is the Dawnguard. This is a missive and a request; if you are concerned with the fate of Tamriel, join our ranks so that together we can rise to take down this new threat. _

* * *

My legs ached, but considering the fact that I'd been walking for over three days the pain didn't surprise me. It was like my limbs were screaming at me to slow down, but I willed myself not to stop. I wasn't even close enough to see home on the horizon, all I could see was the damned Jerall Mountains.  
I was on the outskirts of Bruma, carrying a very valuable trinket that I had stolen from the Imperial City. I knew that by now the Palace Guards would've noticed that the Elder Scroll was gone. I remembered how shocked I was when Brynjolf had entrusted me with this mission, considering I'd only been part of the guild for a little over five years. Brynjolf could have chosen one of the others, many of which had practically grown up in the Ratway.  
Sighing, I glanced up at the sun and realised that it had already passed midday. I had about four hours of sunlight left. The steady fall of snow had picked up about an hour ago, and the land was covered in white. I stumbled towards a nearby tree stump and sat down after brushing the settled snow from it. I pulled my Guild hood down and wiped the light coating of snow from the hardened leather. Groaning, I stretched my stiff and cold legs as I pulled my knapsack from my back and took out what remained of my dried pork leg. My water canteen was empty, so I resorted to eating piles of freshly fallen snow. As I ate the wind picked up and the sky suddenly darkened. A deep chill set into my bones that had nothing to do with the cold, my Nordic blood could sense a snow storm from even the slightest shift in the wind. I looked up towards the northern sky and calculated that I probably had about an hour before I was swamped with snow. I quickly bit a mouthful of meat off of the pork leg and shoved it back into my bag after pulling out the pelts and leather I would need to make an effective shelter. The landscape around me created several good camping places, but a lot of them would require that I cut branches off of the surrounding trees. I bundled the leathers and pelts into a ball and stalked around for fallen branches or suitable branches to cut, when a haven caught my eye. Smiling, I made my way towards the huge pine tree and studied the cave the snow had created under the thick pine needles. My smile grew when I saw that the space would be large enough to house a small fire.  
I threw the bundle of leather and furs into the dry patch under the tree and began widening the entrance so that I could follow. When I was done, I crawled through the hole and stepped into the snow cave. I could see that most of the snow on the inside of the cave had frozen solid, which would make my job a lot easier. Circling around, I surveyed the area. There were three branches supporting the ice walls of the cave, two of them stood at my height and supported the walls on either side of the entrance I had made. The third was directly above me, and it was what caused the hole in the mound of snow. I could tie my furs to the branches to make the space even warmer than it was. Nodding at my decision, I unravelled the bundle of furs and separated the sheets of leather from the hides. I tied the leather to the walls first, which blocked out a lot of the natural light that was coming through the snow and ice. The air began to grow warmer, except for the occasional gust of wind that would blow in from the entrance. I ducked back outside with a single piece of leather and searched for the stick I had found before. It was half buried in the snow when I found it, I picked it up and pulled a handful of dry branches from one of the trees I walked under. When I got back to my den, I threw the small pile of dry sticks in beside the pile of leather and shoved the large curved branch deep into the snow. I tied the sheet of leather to it and curved it slightly above my head so that the snow would blow right over the entrance of my den and leave an opening for when I woke up the next morning.  
Satisfied with my construction, I entered my den again, pushed the furs aside and began building a small pyre in the centre of the den. The first three sparks didn't ignite, but I coaxed the forth into glorious warm light. Once the fire was cheerily burning, I began tying the furs to the walls. When I was finished, I sat by the fire and looked around at my handiwork. The den now had a homey feel to it and was a comfortable temperature; the only unsettling thing about it was the howling of the wind outside. I had one piece of fur left, which I decided I would tie to the leathers above the entrance to at least mute the sound of the wind.  
I dropped my pack to the ground and pulled out my bedroll. I rolled it out with no real intention to sleep; instead, I pulled the Elder Scroll from my pack and crawled towards the tree trunk. The warmth from the fire defrosted the tingling cold in my hands, feet and face as I stared down at the pearly Scroll. I wondered what Brynjolf would think of my success.

_The moth priests had practically accepted me as one of their own. They really believed that I was trained to become one of them. I guess that because their numbers were dwindling because of the war, they took apprentices eagerly.  
_Perhaps a little _too_ eagerly,_ I thought sarcastically to myself as I followed a priest named Lucian Evexter to the reading chambers.  
My cover story was that I was a travelling pilgrim, who'd studied at the Temple of the Ancestor Moth since I was old enough to read and learn. I hid a smile at how ingenious it was. The only downside of the whole mission was the fact that the apprentice Amber Jaiz – the woman I was impersonating – hadn't agreed to go on a "holiday" with the gold that the Guild had given me. I was forced to permanently silence her, a fact that I knew Brynjolf wouldn't be happy with.  
'This is the reading room, Apprentice Jaiz,' Evexter said as he stepped aside to let me see the walls of a large round-walled library. 'I'll send another priest down with the Scroll you are permitted to read.'  
I made my way down the spiral staircase and found an empty table towards the centre of the room to sit at. I felt the presence of the Scroll before I even saw the priest walking towards me. It was a rare gift in a thief to feel the presence of the object one is thieving. It was a feeling that I sometimes felt, but this new feeling was nothing like what I had experienced before. I could feel the Scroll's power as if it was teasing me and wanting me to abandon stealth, take it and run. I fought the urges and took my time. Nocturnal would reward those who were patient. _

A sudden screeching of the wind tore me from my memory, causing me to jump. I stood and pulled my canteen from my waist, opening it as I walked to the sheet of fur concealing the entrance. I opened the flap enough to reach out and grab a couple of handfuls of fresh snow and patted it into my canteen. Carefully closing the flap before returning to the fire, I looked down at my canteen and then at the pile of sticks that I had collected. Taking a seat by the fire, I constructed a kind of spit that would hold my metal bottomed canteen over the fire. While I waited for the snow to boil, I crawled back to the trunk of the tree where I'd left the Elder Scroll and picked it up again. It seemed to radiate power, as if it was urging me to open it. I lost myself in the muted sounds of the storm and the power radiating from the Scroll until my snow melted and began to boil. Placing the Scroll under my bedroll, I moved towards the fire and began brewing a simple herbal tea as I ate more of the pork leg. After I finished the tea, I predicted that the storm would clear up before sunrise, so I made myself comfortable in my bedroll and drifted into a dreamless sleep with the Elder Scroll in my arms.

* * *

The birds woke me up the next morning, a cheerful sound that I was happy to wake up to. Sighing, I pulled my bow out of my knapsack and a half full quiver of arrows to hunt. I still had most of my pork left, but after almost a week of dried pork all I could think about was rabbit stew.  
Before I opened the tent door, I turned back and looked at my rolled up bedroll. Thinking twice, I walked over and pulled the Elder Scroll from the centre of the roll and clipped it to the leather holding my quiver to my back.  
Peeling back the leather sheet proved to be more difficult than I had thought it would be, as half of it had been frozen with the snow on the opposite side of my construction. When I saw the massive amounts of snow covering the wall I had built, I was immediately glad that I had done so. There was a hardened mountain of snow on the other side of the leather wall, and above the entrance was a clear ice roof. I stared at the artwork that only nature could make and wondered if Kyne above had played a part in this. Inhaling the cold fresh air, I crawled through the small hole in the snow at the end of the ice-roofed walkway.  
I climbed out into a white world; somehow I knew that the snow around me was over a metre deep and that I would be standing near the tops of the trees around me. The light nature of the snow made me thankful that I had trained in sneak ever since I was a young girl. I managed to remain on top of the thin layer of hardened snow without leaving a footprint. When I was far enough away from my little burrow, I closed my eyes and listened to the sounds of the forest. The majority of noises I heard came from the birds that fluttered restlessly around in the trees. I waited until I heard the noise I wanted to hear, the squelching noise of something digging in the snow and it didn't take long for me to hear it. I automatically began to move soundlessly towards the noise, pulling an arrow from my quiver and loading it into my bow. I pulled back the drawstring and aimed in the direction of the noise, sighting the rabbit digging in the snow for grass and noting the direction and speed of the wind before releasing the arrow. As soon as I released it I knew that it had been a perfect shot. It arched over the distance between the rabbit and myself, before it slammed violently into the rabbit's left flank, killing it instantly. When the rabbit's squeal of surprise and pain reached my ears, I felt the usual regret I always felt after killing an animal for food. I shoved the thought to the back of my mind and walked over to the dead rabbit. Its fur was pure white, and would make a nice neck-warmer. I skinned the rabbit with skill, maintaining the quality in the fur and doing so efficiently. I cut out the parts of the rabbit that I did not eat and left them there for the foxes.

My stomach was content with the hot meal and I was on the move again shortly after I had eaten all of the stew. I aimed to get off Cyrodiilic land and into Skyrim before nightfall. It took me most of the morning to pack up my camp. I ended up leaving the leather sheet wall holding up the snow because it was frozen solid. It was cooler this morning than it had been all week, which I knew was because the cold season was coming for the northernmost parts of Tamriel. Skyrim would be covered in a heavier blanket of snow when I arrived there. I smiled at the thought of being so close to home, so close to the damp smells of Riften and the Ratway. It made the chill around me seem less foreboding than it actually was. I was almost there, a few leagues away from the warmth and safety of Brynjolf's embrace. I shook the personal thoughts from my mind and reopened my alertness on the white world around me. I kept walking until I came to the road just past Bruma that showed the way to the easiest route through the Jerall Mountains, where I paced myself at a steady jog. I travelled through the range with the sun reaching its peak in the frozen sky.

The borderline wasn't marked, but I knew the exact moment I set foot on home soil. The scents in the air seemed to change and my racing heart began to slow to a steady beat even though I was still keeping my steady pace. I looked up at the sky and realised I only had four hours until night fell, and as I looked down and rounded a corner in the winding mountain road, I looked out over a familiar sight. I was almost at the peak of one of the mountains, so I could see right across Skyrim to the Sea of Ghosts with the only obstacle being the Throat of the World. My heart sighed at the sight of home. Even with the terrors that had raked the lands of Skyrim over the course of my life, there was no other place in Tamriel where I would be happier.  
After taking in the sight, I followed the path as it began to descend in the middle of the range. There the path would enter a cavern which led under the mountains and came out to the southwest of Helgen. From there, I didn't need the roads to show me the way home.  
As I descended down the path, I caught a glimpse of a sabre cat just before it moved into the bushes to ambush me when I reached it. I halted and crouched down, quietly pulling the bow from my back and removing an arrow from my quiver. The sabre cat wasn't dumb, as soon as I took firing stance it realised it had been spotted. It leaped out from behind the bush and hurled itself towards me, snarling all the while. I took a deep breath as I straightened my body and followed the cats' movements with my drawn bow. I released the arrow just as the sabre cat reached me. My arrow buried its head deep in the cats' shoulder, but the only thing the beast did to acknowledge it was groan in pain. It lashed out at me and I jumped back just in time to keep my face.  
'This is how you want to play, huh?' I growled as I dropped my bow.  
The cat and I began the circular dance as I drew my twin blades from their sheaths on my shoulders. I noticed that the cat retreated a bit at the ringing sound of metal against leather and a devilish grin crept over my face. We circled around each other for what felt like an age, I lowered my fighting stance and stood up straight with my blades at my sides. I lowered the bait, which the cat saw as an opening and didn't hesitate to exploit it, but I was waiting for that and so were my blades. I stepped to the side and let the huge body of the cat fly past me; I lifted my blade and raised my arm in an arch at the last moment. My blade collided with the sabre cats left flank, blood splattered across my face and the cat yowled with pain. It landed in a heap behind me, mewling softly in pain. I held my position for a little longer before I turned around to put the beast out of its misery.  
I glanced down at the mess I had made, the sabre cat's pelt was drenched in its own blood and the cat's insides had spilled out onto the pathway for the world to see. Nausea built in my stomach as guilt began to weigh me down. Closing my eyes I shook the image of the cat from my mind and continued down the road, only stopping when the mouth of the cavern opened up in front of me. After taking a deep preparatory breath, I sheathed my blades and drew my bow. I crouched and snuck into the cave.  
The sight was an unfamiliar one, as I had entered Cyrodiil at the passage south of Riften. I exhaled quietly as I moved through the rocky tunnel. I could tell that the passage was used often by travellers because of the amount of braziers and sconed torches that lit up the long, narrow walkway. There were a number of tracks on the dusty clay floor below me, the majority of them were horse and carriage tracks. I gritted my jaw when I thought of how much more comfortable I would be if I was travelling via carriage, but I knew that I would be harder to track if I travelled by foot.  
The cavern walls were made of piled clay bricks, with huge wooden beams supporting them. There were patches of graffiti where bored travellers had carved into the brick not just using Nordic patterns but Brettonic art as well. The small shards of artwork on the walls of the tunnel amused me as I made my way through it. Towards the end of the tunnel there was a huge Nordic carving that depicted all of the Nordic Gods. Above the mouth of the cave stood Shor in all His glory, with the other gods surrounding him, I paused as I took in the sight. I lowered my head for a moment out of respect, then looked forwards to the almost twilight hue of the land outside the cave. A wave of joy stole away my concerns for sneaking as I took the step out of the cave and onto home soil. I didn't bother sneaking for much longer; I left my crouched position and paced myself at a steady jog and followed my heart home.


	2. Plunge

**_A/N: _**_This chapter containes a bit of gore, you've been warned! The next chapter will be a few weeks prior to the events that have unfolded so far. Thank you for reading/reviewing, I hope you enjoy!_

**_DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Elder Scrolls series, therefore all of the credit involving the game goes to the creators at Bethesda Softworks. Although, the plot of this story, some of the mystical happenings and the original characters belong to me. _**

* * *

The sun had fallen, my preferred night surrounded me. I was no longer burdened with the childish fear of what lurked in the night, although I knew that it would be best if I didn't continue. Irritably, I swallowed the doubt and pressed on.  
After a few hours the clouds released the light of the moon, illuminating the thin sheet of hardened snow at my feet. The brightness was blinding, I found myself blinking rapidly to keep my eyes from tearing up. I began to jog when the snow began to disappear in patches, increasing my pace when birch trees began merging with pine.  
Maybe it was my carelessness that attracted them; maybe it was my lulled senses that made me an easier target. Maybe it was because my unusually white hair contrasted with my pale blue eyes and brown tinged skin. In the end the reason didn't matter. All that mattered was that I was going to die and the two Thalmor vampires that stepped into my path were going to kill me.  
One of them reminded me of a young male snow bear, with his off-white skin, light blond hair and a huge build that only added to his resemblance to the animal. Snow Bear's shoulders were broad and muscled, his chest, arms and legs were toned and thick enough to balance out the whole of his body. Without all of the muscle, his shoulders would have made his torso look like an equilateral triangle.  
The other Thalmor vampire was like a twig in comparison. Whilst the first Thalmor was tall and thick, this one was average in height and lanky. His arms and legs looked far too long for his body and his shoulders sagged with the weight of his head. A dark green magic swirled between his fingers and halfway up his arm. I noticed that every time the ugly colour fluctuated, Snow Bear's eyes pulsed with green light.  
_Mind control,_ I thought, curling up my lip with disgust. _And to think that people consider archers and sneaks cowards ... _this_ is a coward.  
_Flexing my shoulders again and swallowing the lump of fear rising in my throat, I drew my swords and readied myself for battle. The smaller Thalmor sneered and clenched his hands into fists, causing the green magic to glow brighter and become more erratic. When the Snow Bear snarled and charged at me with fiery green eyes, I knew that Twig was my target. Mind manipulations needed a weak-minded subject otherwise the magic wouldn't work. Alone, Snow Bear would be an easy kill.  
I hunched my back a little and held one blade horizontally in front of me, and the other vertically at my side. When I was younger and associated myself with the Companions of Jorrvaskr, Athis had always reprimanded my fighting stance. He'd tell me that I was too relaxed, and that relaxation would lower my reflexes. When I ascended to the Circle, I realised that my relaxed stance threw off my enemies and made it easier for me to surprise them.  
As Snow Bear began to close in, I forced myself to focus on him and try to predict his movements as he ran towards me. His brain would react to all of his senses a lot quicker than mine would; any movement that I made with my swords would have to be right as it was too late for him to avoid them.  
My heartbeat began to quicken as he got closer, panic bordered my mind, trying to break through my concentration and give the Thalmor vampire what he wanted – a chase. I steeled myself as time seemed to slow down. Snow Bear prepared himself to pounce when he was a metre in front of me, he jumped through the air at lightning speed. I sidestepped to the left and lifted my right arm up to pierce his torso as he passed. The speed of my attack surprised me, and a huge pressure lifted off of my chest as I watched Snow Bear fall to the ground. If he was a human he would die from his wounds within seconds, but he was a vampire and his wounds would heal within seconds.  
With the short amount of time that I had, I ran towards Twig. His spell over the other vampire had broken and he was distracted trying to re-establish it. He didn't see me coming until it was already too late for him. I screamed with rage as jumped up and lifted my twin blades over my head, positioning them so that they would pierce down to his heart through his neck. Twig's eyes glazed over with rage and an explosion sounded between us, my swords were blasted from my hands and I was thrown weightlessly through the air. I hit the trunk of a tree with enough force that the Elder Scroll strapped my back and my bow deep within the wood.  
I struggled to breathe as bruising pain from the explosion crushed my lungs. Disoriented, I untangled myself from my bag straps and threw myself towards cover. I could hear Twig's magic healing his companion.  
Torn, I looked up at the tree that I had collided with. _I can't leave the Scroll for them to find...  
_The thought had just passed my mind when my pack vanished, as did the indent in the tree. Panic gripped my heart, if the Elder Scroll had teleported elsewhere; the hopes of finding it were slim to none.  
'Little Nord!' Twig called in a sing-song voice, the coldness of it sent chills down my spine. 'Come out; come out, wherever you are!'  
I slowed my breathing and rose into a crouch. I backed away from the sound of his voice, following the shadows and the sound of running water. Hope and adrenaline caused my heart to beat faster, if I could escape and hide until daylight I would get out of this alive. If I couldn't, the only weapons that I had on me were my dagger and my stealth.

A freezing feeling crept up my legs and I looked down, I was standing knee deep in the freezing waters of Lake Geir. I stop focusing so much on my hearing and looked around. I'd run further than I had thought, I could see the lights of Ivarstead in the distance. Hesitantly, I looked behind me and at the uneven patches of darkness under the trees. I couldn't see or hear movement, I almost shouted with relief. I lowered myself and backed up into the shadows of the closest trees and continued along the shoreline. If I got to Ivarstead, I would be safe until morning and I had enough coin to hire a couple of men to help track down my swords and maybe my pack.  
'You really thought you could escape us?' the voice froze me with fear; my heart felt like it had been stabbed with a shard of ice. 'You foolish little girl, we are _vampires_ for Aedrea's sake! _We can smell your blood_.'  
Before the vampire had finished his sentence, I was running. I didn't get far when two small green lights flashed in front of me. A hand gripped my left arm with crushing force; I grunted at the pain and looked up into the glowing green eyes of Snow Bear. My stomach dropped with fear when I saw the lifeless anger twisting his features.  
'Got you,' Twig's voice sounded in my ear.  
His breath warmed my cheek and when one of his disgusting fingers stroked the hair off of the side of my face I froze. My right hand tightened on the handle of my dagger.  
'My brother and I are going to have so much fun with you tonight,' Twig sneered.  
He tilted my head to the side and pressed his nose to my neck, inhaling deeply. I wanted to force my eyes shut but I couldn't. If they were going to kill me, I would be a witness to every moment of it. I was _not _a coward, I would not die a coward and I _definitely_ would not go down without a fight.  
I glared up at Snow Bear, my gaze burned deep into his glowing eyes. Without hesitation, I raised the dagger and stabbed his throat. The green in his eyes faded and he screamed with undeniable fury as he clutched his neck. I didn't hesitate and I didn't miss, my blade pierced and dislodged his heart, Snow Bear was dead.  
Twig screamed with rage when the lifeless body of his brother hit the ground, his hand gripped my arm with surprising strength, forcing me to drop the dagger. Trying to pull free I turned and faced him; his eyes glowed like furnace coals.  
'You will pay for that, whore,' his fangs flashed in the moonlight as he spoke with words that were dipped in venom. 'You will know pain before I send you to the void.'  
His eyes burned into mine and my mind swam with fear. Suddenly, I was flying through the air with a sickening pain crawling up my arm. A scream managed to tear itself from my lips before my chest collided with a boulder on the small island in the centre of Lake Geir. The sound of my bones breaking popped in my ears. My body dropped lifelessly to the uneven ground and tears of pain cascaded down my face. I tried to move my legs to lessen the pain, but I could no longer feel them. I found myself gasping for air again, my lungs burned. Sobbing, I rolled onto my stomach and tried to drag myself towards Ivarstead. Sickening pain coursed through my arms and shoulders, stars danced across my eyes and my whole body shuddered. I gasped again, forcing my diaphragm to pull the air into my lungs. I glanced over my shoulder at my back, tears welled in my eyes and my lower lip quivered as I took in the sight of the lower half of my spine wedged between the straps of my armour. Blood pooled around the extruding bone, I couldn't feel the warmth that I knew should be there.  
'Now look at what you made me do,' Twig leaned over me, his cold and soulless eyes glared into mine. 'You're a useless cripple now and all of your precious blood is staining the ground around you.' He inhaled and pressed a hand into the pool of blood on my back. 'So warm, so thick,' he raised his blood soaked hand to his mouth and licked the blood off of his finger. 'Mmm sweet as honey too, it's such a shame you had to murder my brother. Now, I get you all to myself, little Nord.'  
Twig grabbed my neck and lifted me off of the ground. I felt the weight of my legs pull my spine back into my body; I winced in discomfort but didn't satisfy the vampire with my screams. He studied my face, licking my blood from his lips and hand as he did so.  
'Mmm, you are a pretty one aren't you, little Nord.' He murmured. 'Let's see if we can't fix that.'  
The vampire leaned forwards and kissed my cheek gently. He traced kisses to my temple, then back down to my cheekbone. I felt his tongue against my cheek and winced away from him right as his teeth pierced the flesh on my face. I couldn't help but scream with agony and he began rotating his head and tearing at the flesh, when I opened my mouth my face only tore more. The vampire ripped his face away suddenly, similar to the way wolves tear chunks of meat from their fallen prey. There was a slight tingling on my cheek, an irritation that was slowly turning into agony. I looked at the vampire in horror and saw that he was holding a large bloody chunk of my face in his mouth. I cried out with both pain and shock as he studied my face again, begging him to kill me, to end it.  
'Now that's much better, little Nord,' he hissed.  
He didn't waste any more time, he leaned in and bit down hard on my neck, exposing his own neck to me. A touch of anger burned through the pain of his feeding, I decided to give the vampire a taste of his own medicine before I died. I leaned forwards, as if I was passing out and rested my lips on his neck. His chest vibrated as he moaned, shifting his hold on me. I opened my lips and bit down on his shoulder as hard as I could, which earned me a scream of rage. His blood filled my mouth before he could manage to tear me off of him. I choked on the hot, thick liquid and started to slip into unconsciousness as I felt the weightless feeling again. I knew that the vampire had thrown me into Gerimund's Hall.  
_I'm sorry Brynjolf, _I thought as I slipped into the void.


	3. Subtlety (Dreaming)

_**A/N: **Note that the events in this chapter and for the next chapters with (Dreaming) in the title have occured three and a half weeks before Kirani ran into the vampire brothers. _

__**DISCLAIMER: As you know, I do not own the Elder Scrolls. Therefore all of the credit involving the game goes to the talented people at Bethesda Softworks. In saying that, some of the characters, a bunch of plot stuffs and mystical happenings that happen in this story belong to me.**__

* * *

Sunlight beamed down upon the marketplace of Riften, a cocky smile tugged at my lips as I searched around for my next victim.  
_Teach Vipir for thinking that I wouldn't be able to do this,_ I thought, shaking my head. _Pickpocketing is my most prized talent.  
_I sat next to the beggar Snilf, dressed in similar rough and worn clothing. The unruly state of my pure white hair and the dirt covering my lightly tanned skin added to my disguise. Snilf knew who I really was, so did the other beggar Edda. Beggars were the best spies one could come by, and as a kind-hearted and financially able woman, I cared for them when I could. In return, the beggars would keep an eye out for newcomers for me, and threats to the Guild.  
'Snilf, my friend, is there anyone here today whose pockets are too heavy for their own good?' I whispered after I sat down. I placed an empty bucket at my feet next to his.  
'Not yet, milady,' Snilf replied. 'Although that hooded man has been watching you since you got here. Keep your guard up around him, Kirani, I don't think he means well.'

* * *

I begged with Snilf all day, earning a handful of coins from both citizens of Riften as well as the few travellers and traders that passed through from Morrowind and Cyrodiil. Even with my focus on people's pockets, I found that my eyes continued to fall upon the hooded man. Something about his statue was familiar and whatever it was both intrigued and frightened me. Being a thief – a good thief at that – I had made a few enemies that wouldn't mind paying me back.  
He never approached the stalls in the market itself, he leaned comfortably against the wall outside of Mara's Temple. Ironically, he was twirling a gold coin between his fingers. A movement that he exaggerated every time I counted the amount of coins I'd begged as well as those that I had stolen. I knew that this mysterious man was now the one here that I wanted to pickpocket the most. Anticipation rose in my gut as I began planning sneaking up to him. The trickiest part would be leaving the marketplace without him noticing until I was already gone.  
With the wheels in my head turning rapidly, I didn't notice that the sun was setting until Snilf began pocketing his coins and moving towards the Bee and Barb for dinner. I glanced over at the Temple; the hooded figure remained there, watching me as I watched him. I again noticed pieces of his stance that were shockingly familiar. In the twilight I found that I was more comfortable with studying him.  
There was nothing notable about his clothing; he wore fur lined boots, light brown leather tights, a simple workers' shirt and the light brown hooded poncho that covered his arms and face. The uneducated would assume that he was from Hammerfell, but I knew that his build was too tall and too thick to be a Redguard. No, he was a Nord, just like me.  
The priest Brehil stopped in front of the man to talk, when the hooded man turned his head away from me, I didn't waste my time. As I crept into the shadows of dusk, I heard the guard asking him why he'd been standing outside of Mara's Temple all day. I paused behind the well in the centre of the marketplace, waiting anxiously for the man's response.  
'I was just thinking within the light of Mara, priest,' his voice was hushed, but his strange accent set off bells in my mind.  
The priest told him that he was welcome in the Temple to further brighten that light. I smiled a little to myself before I continued following the path that led me to the graveyard and behind the Temple of Mara.  
My heart began to quicken as I soundlessly walked along the wall that surrounded the Temple of Mara. When I had crossed the courtyard and was standing directly behind the man with only the wall separating us, I listened knowing that I should be able to hear him breathe.  
I was welcomed with silence, for a moment I worried that my prey had caught me leaving to catch him. Unwilling to go back to Vipir fifty gold short, I snuck further along the wall and lowered my body to the ground. I slowly poked my head around the corner to see if the Nord was still there.  
Before my mind could register what my eyes were telling me, quiet laughter sounded behind me. 'I leave for a week and you've gotten worse at subtlety, lass?'  
I jumped to my feet and whirled around to meet the smiling eyes of Brynjolf, my heart skipped a beat. _I _knew _I knew that figure. How did I not realise...?  
_'Next time you spot prey in a crowded area, make sure you don't ogle them,' Brynjolf teased. 'The constant staring will make a less attractive man suspicious.'  
'Vipir neglected to tell me that you'd be coming back,' I noted, quickly hiding my blush and slight irritation at his cocky remark. 'You set this up didn't you? You knew that the people of Riften wouldn't be carrying enough for me to get four-hundred septims by the time the sun went down. You knew that I'd sense the gold in your pockets and come after you, didn't you?'  
His grin widened.  
'You slimy, cocky, red-headed bastard,' I muttered and walked past him to the secret Thieves Guild entrance. 'Vipir is going to regret setting me up.'  
'You're still fifty septims short, lass.'  
I scoffed. 'Yeah, and I wouldn't be if _someone _hadn't have intervened.'  
Brynjolf chuckled, my anger burned through my embarrassment. 'It wasn't his fault, lass, going after him will only further your shame.'  
I whirled around to face him just has he started running to catch up with me.  
'Steady there, lass,' he murmured, the glint of amusement that sparkled in his eye grew brighter when he saw the rage on my face.  
'Further my _shame_?'  
'You're fifty septims short,' he reminded me.  
I clenched my jaw shut, glaring up into Brynjolf's sea-green eyes. 'It's not shame if the bet wasn't true in the first place,' I retorted.  
Brynjolf chuckled again. 'It was lass; you were the one who started it, not Vipir.'  
When I turned to continue walking towards the graveyard, the red-haired Nord stepped in front of me and blocked my path.  
'Come with me for a second,' he murmured.  
I glared up at him again. 'Nuh uh, you won't talk me out of it this time, Bryn.'  
I pushed into his chest with all of my strength, but he didn't move an inch. Sometimes being an excellent sneak isn't something to be proud of, especially when my small build made it a lot easier for me.  
Brynjolf laughed, I felt his chest vibrate as I shoved him – or tried to – again. 'Keep going, you just moved a hair on my head.'  
Growling in frustration, I made myself turn around and walk out of Mara's light and towards my small but cosy home in Riften, Honeyside.  
_Huh, just like a true family, the members of the Thieves Guild are always squabbling over something,_ I thought mockingly.  
'Where are you going _now_?' Brynjolf called as he jogged to catch up with me.  
'To a bed that I am allowed to sleep in since you've decided I'm not allowed to go home,' I muttered.  
To my surprise, he didn't try to stop me; he just walked a little ways behind me. He only stopped when I opened the door to my home. I was tempted to shut the door in his face, but I knew that he wouldn't have followed me – or taunted me – unless he had news.  
He closed the door behind him before strolling straight towards my bed and making himself at home there. It took all of my self-control to not glare at him; I knew that it would only egg him on.  
'Nice place you've got here,' he said casually. 'No shadows for a thief to hide in though.'  
I sighed. 'Mmm, now what is it you wanted to talk to me about?'  
He looked up at me with mock confusion. 'What do you mean lass?'  
'You know what I mean Brynjolf. You wanted to talk to me alone; otherwise you wouldn't have turned Vipir against me and stopped me from going back to the Guild.'  
A glimmer of admiration flickered in his eyes. He paused for a moment as he studied me, a small smile tugging at his lips. 'I sometimes forget the strength of your mind.'  
I looked away, knowing my cheeks were flushing slightly.  
He sighed and stood, answering my question before the silence grew too heated. 'I spent a week in the Imperial City with the Grey Fox and his gang on Mercer's request. I've got a job for you, lass, and I promise you that it won't be easy.'  
There was a flutter of excitement in my chest. My first real heist, to me Goldenglow and Honningbrew weren't acknowledgeable heists. They had served one purpose, making Maven Black-Briar happy.  
'What do I need to do?' I asked, keeping my voice calm.  
'Firstly, you must not tell anyone else in the Guild,' he murmured softly. 'As much as it grieves me to say this, it is safer for the mission if they do not know. After what Mercer did ...'  
I nodded. 'Don't tell the Guild, got it.'  
After a brief pause, he stopped pacing and his sea green eyes met mine. 'You're going after an Elder Scroll.'  
'_What_?' I exclaimed. 'Why? If the Moth Priests have a Scroll, they would be guarding it more carefully than they ever guarded the first one they had. What do we need an Elder Scroll _for_?'  
Brynjolf gaze didn't waver. 'We don't particularly _need_ an Elder Scroll, but if what I heard was true, this one speaks of a recipe for power and wealth, two things that this Guild sorely needs right now.'  
'But we're getting both of those things back now that Mercer is gone, our pockets are filling again. Why would you risk everything that we've both worked so hard for on the whisper of an Elder Scroll?' I demanded.  
His gaze dropped to the floor at his feet.  
'Why do we need the Elder Scroll?' I asked again.  
'I don't need to explain myself to you, Kirani. That Elder Scroll will belong to this Guild; the Grey Fox will never even lay his eyes upon it.'  
Humourless laughter escaped me before I could stop myself. 'You're going to risk everything on an Elder Scroll just because the Grey Fox wants it?'  
Suddenly, I was pushed across the room and trapped against the wall beside the doorway to the kitchen. Brynjolf's forearm pressed against my throat, almost choking me. His sea green eyes flared with anger that I had never seen within him, it was fuelled by fear.  
'If you had seen what I had seen, you wouldn't want the Grey Fox to get that Scroll either,' he hissed.  
My heart pounded in my chest and I realised that I was _afraid _of Brynjolf. He must have seen the fear in my eyes because he removed his arm and turned away with a pained expression. I forced myself not to cough as I inhaled.  
'I ...' he began, 'I shouldn't have taken it out on you. I'm sorry, lass.'  
'What happened in Cyrodiil Bryn?' I asked softly as I approached him slowly. 'What did the Grey Fox do?'  
He ran a hand through his hair as he turned to face me again. When his sea green eyes met mine my heart dropped. Brynjolf was always joking around, teasing the younger recruits and manipulating the people of Riften with his charm. There was always a light in his eyes, it was the mischievous glint that made it so easy for him to charm his way through anything.  
The light was gone; his eyes were filled with stress and fear.  
Brynjolf didn't need to tell me the details, I didn't need to know. The look in his eyes had told me enough.  
'Bryn ...' I stepped forwards and hugged him.  
For a moment, he didn't do anything and I started to feel as though I had overstepped my boundaries. I began to step back when his arms went around me, tucking my head into the hollow below his shoulder. His chin rested on my head and for the second time I was reminded just how small I was, even if I was a Nord.  
I would've been happy enough to stay in the embrace for the rest of my life, with nothing but Brynjolf's warmth getting us through the winter. We both ended the hug at the same time; I forced myself not to shuffle awkwardly as a blush crept up my cheeks. Now was not the time to reveal my feelings.  
'The Grey Fox is a greedy and selfish man,' Brynjolf growled.  
He averted his gaze from mine and I watched as his mind became distant.  
'So much so that he killed his second in command right in front of me because he asked to borrow some of the Guild's coin.' In seconds, Brynjolf's eyes burned with anger again. 'He told the kid as he did it that the Guild's coin remains in the Guild's safe for future generations. The kid only wanted forty septims to pay off his bounty. The Grey Fox picked up the kid's body and chucked it outside of the hideout, he made me watch with him as the guards came and took it. Then he showed me his Guild's safe, it was stocked with gold and treasures, forty septims would have been nothing. Then he offered me a share of the treasure and when I refused he shoved a handful of diamonds into my pocket and pushed me out of the room. He unsheathed his blade and called me a thief; the other Guild members advanced on me and chased me out of the safe house. I threw the diamonds in the dust at the doorstep once I escaped.'  
Anger boiled in my gut, the Grey Fox was even worse than Mercer. To kill one of his own and toss their remains out onto the street for the guards to find was ... unthinkable. To then call Brynjolf a thief and have him kicked out of the guild...  
'I spied on them all for a while, I heard the Grey Fox talking about the Elder Scroll. You have to get it before he does, Kirani, he can't be allowed to use it to gain the power and riches that he desperately craves.'  
We were both silent for a while, suddenly I was less excited for my first heist and more anxious to get the Scroll away from the Grey Fox.  
'How am I going to get into the Imperial Palace?' I asked smoothly, watching Brynjolf's face.  
His angst vanished; a thankful smile lit his eyes. 'It won't be easy, obviously, there will be plenty of security guarding the Scroll. The Moth Priests learned their lesson two hundred years ago when the Grey Fox of that time stole an Elder Scroll.' He stood up and walked over to my dining area, pushing all of the food and plates off the table. 'When I was riding the carriage home, I thought out a plan. Moth Priests trust few that aren't Moth Priests, so why don't you go to their temple in Cyrodiil and steal the identity of a Moth Priest there? I could forge you some papers giving you reason to travel to the Imperial City to view the Elder Scroll, from then on it will be all up to you. I can provide a map of the White Gold Tower that shows all of the exits – both known and unknown – but ... other than that, this job is all yours, lass.'  
He pulled a map out of a hidden pocket in his poncho and unrolled it on my table. It was a map of Cyrodiil, showing the location of the Temple of the Ancestor Moths. It was a fair distance south of the Jerall Mountains on the eastern side of Bruma. Due to its closeness to the Jerall's which marked the northern border of Cyrodiil, I knew that it wasn't all that far from Riften.  
I nodded. 'Whose identity will I be stealing?'  
Brynjolf shrugged and straightened his stance. 'I don't know, lass, I'll have to gather all of the information that I can about that Temple. You'll need to pull Vex and Delvin aside for training as well ... oh, and you may want to speak with Talsgar the Wanderer for speech training.'  
I frowned. 'Speech training...? And I've asked Talsgar for training before, he told me to go to the bards college in Solitude.'  
'Aye lass, speech training, you're going to need a sharp tongue for this heist. If you pay Talsgar enough coin, he will teach you all he knows. I heard that he will be staying in Ivarstead for a couple of weeks, if I was you, I'd head out there as soon as I could.'  
I nodded again. 'I'll pack and leave tonight.'  
'Right,' Brynjolf said. 'Come down to the Guild when you've finished packing, you'll need the gold to bribe him with.'  
Brynjolf started towards the door. My head spun with thoughts as I began to make a mental list of what I would need to take with me to Ivarstead, it had been a few years since I had visited the small town.  
'Oh and here, lass,' Brynjolf called when he reached the door.  
When I looked up, he tossed a small leather bag in my direction. I caught it and recognised the weight and the jingle of gold. I glanced down at the leather coin purse in my hands and back up at Brynjolf in confusion.  
'What's this for?' I asked.  
'It's ninety septims lass,' he grinned mischievously as he opened the door. 'Oh, and don't hit Vipir too hard when you come down later.'  
The door closed behind him and I looked down at the bag again, with a grin on my face.  
_That was a complement,_ I told myself. _Brynjolf knows that if he wasn't a master thief you would've stolen that gold from him tonight.  
_I rolled my eyes at the strangeness of men, jogged downstairs to wash the dirt and ash smudged on my face as well as the smell of a sewer off of my skin. While the bath was running, I stripped and ran upstairs to throw the ruined fabric in the fireplace. I watched it burn for a moment before returning to the bathing room to wash myself in the warm water.


	4. First Steps (Dreaming)

_**A/N:**__This chapter hasn't been fully read over yet, I will be reading over it soon and will fix the mistakes that I find. If any of you happen to find grammatical mistakes, feel free to tell me in the reviews/comments, thanks! Also, thank you for the support so far, it means a lot :) _

___**DISCLAIMER: As you know, I do not own the Elder Scrolls. Therefore, all of the credit involving the game goes to the talented people at Bethesda Softworks. In saying that, some of the characters, a bunch of plot stuffs and mystical happenings that happen in this story belong to me.**___

* * *

Donning my armour wasn't as hard as it had once been. I was instantly glad that there were only a few straps in tricky places that couldn't be tightened before wearing it. When I had first become a member of the Thieves Guild, I neglected to wear my armour because it was too difficult for me to put on by myself. Back then, I favoured my leather and hide armours over everything else.  
I looked at the half-full knapsack on my bed. Although a feeling in my gut told me otherwise, I knew that I had everything that I needed for this trip. Brynjolf would give me money for the inn in Ivarstead, and even if he didn't I could always earn my keep whilst I stayed there. Wilhelm was an old friend of mine.  
With my armour secured, I walked over to the floor length mirror and surveyed myself. My hair was such a light shade of blond that it almost always appeared white, a trait that my brother, mother and I used to share. I pushed the horrible memories away and looked over the rest of my features. My eyes were pale blue, which complemented my slightly tanned skin. My face was nicely shaped, with high cheekbones and full, dark lips. My eyebrows and eyelashes were so dark that they looked black, which contrasted with my otherwise light toned features. I was short for a Nord, most Khajiit would easily be taller than me. I was also thin and didn't have the usual bulkiness of my kin. The Thieves Guild armour hugged the small amount of womanly curves that I did have, the thickness of the leather in some places made it seem like I had more than I actually did.  
Nodding at my presentable state, I walked over to my bed and picked up the knapsack. I pulled the top straps closed and threw it over my shoulder as I made my way towards the door. As I walked past my fireplace, I picked up the sack of gold that Brynjolf had given me. After a moment, I tucked the coin purse into one of the pockets in my armour, deciding that I would let Vipir win this one. I left Honeyside with a smile on my face.

The chill didn't bother me as I made my way through Riften's empty streets. The steady breeze brought the scent of coming rain over the city, I breathed in heavily. I didn't bother sneaking, even though I passed a few guards on my way to the graveyard. I knew that all of them would be thinking of mead or a warm bed.  
It began to rain as I pressed the hidden button to open the secret passage into the Cistern. I quickly looked over my shoulder to make sure no-one saw before I glided down the stairs and closed the door over me.  
Time to face the music, I thought as I pushed the wood off of the pipe that led down into the Cistern. I hope you're ready to have a laugh, Vipir.  
I dropped silently to the floor of the Cistern, part of me expected to hear the enthusiastic talk of the Guild, but there was only silence. Confused, I looked around for one of my Guild brothers, the only one that I saw was Brynjolf. He was standing in the centre of the Cistern with his back to me.  
'You took longer than I had hoped, lass,' he called without turning around. 'I was waiting for a show between you and Vipir, but now Vipir is drunk in the Ragged Flagon.'  
'I wouldn't have done anything, Bryn, but admit the fact that I lost. Even if I am a thief, I aim to remain an honest one.'  
Brynjolf laughed and turned around to face me. 'An honest thief, eh? Such a thing is unheard of, lass. Thieves wrap themselves in illusion and lies.'  
'Aye, we do, but only to the people we steal from.'  
I walked up to him, repositioning my knapsack as I did so.  
'I'm ready to head towards Ivarstead, Bryn,' I murmured. 'Just tell me to go, and I'll go. The sooner I talk to Talsgar the sooner I can come home.'  
Brynjolf's smile widened, he reached up and stroked my cheek. My heart fluttered wildly at the feeling and I willed myself not to blush like a young love-struck girl.  
'Your fires burn strong. Have I ever told you how sexy that is, lass?' he murmured.  
My heart felt like it had fallen into my stomach. As much as a flirt that Brynjolf was with Vex, Tonilia and other women, he had never once complemented me on anything other than thieving skills. Even then, a complement on my skills was rare.  
I just shook my head, not knowing how else to reply.  
He stared at me for a moment. 'You know I wish I could come with you lass. I haven't seen you fight with those twin blades of yours yet.'  
I smiled innocently up at him. 'Then why don't you join me? I could use an extra pair of eyes on the road.'  
I watched as the fire in his eyes faded and his face became stern. Something in my chest fell at the sight, as I already knew what his answer would be.  
'Sorry lass, if we go together no one would remain here to look after the Guild,' his voice was flat, he turned and began walking away from me.  
'What about Karliah?' I asked, keeping my tone light and cheery as I followed him.  
'Last I heard of her, she was off somewhere to the north hunting down rumours of a long-lost friend of hers,' he muttered.  
'What if I told you that you were wrong?' I called.  
Brynjolf hesitated. 'What do you mean?'  
'Karliah is staying at Shor's Stone, she found a lead there not long ago. If we send a courier now she can be here by sunrise and we'll be halfway to Ivarstead.'  
I stopped where I was, watching Brynjolf's back as he contemplated the information that I had given him. Silence overcame us for a moment, I could hear distant music and drunken laughter.  
Sounds like a hell of a party that the Guild is throwing in the Ratway, Vekel never hires bards, I thought with a smile tugging at my lips.  
Brynjolf finally sighed, but still didn't turn to face me. 'Send the courier, lass, and be quick about it.'  
A delighted grin tore across my face and I jogged back to the graveyard entrance. I climbed the ladder and pulled myself out of the stone pipe and into the small room under the grave. I pulled on the chain and ran out of the graveyard, knowing that the entrance would automatically close behind me. I didn't stop jogging until I reached the Bee and Barb, where there was always a courier available for hire.

The inn was quieter than I had expected it to be, I hadn't realised the time in my earlier haste. Sure enough, the courier was sitting alone at the bar, he was a rather bulky bosmer. Keerava glared up at me as I approached, both her, and Talen-jei, still hadn't moved on from the one hundred septims that I had shaken out of them for Brynjolf five years ago. I rolled my eyes discreetly and ignored her. The courier was sipping cheap mead and picking at his meal, I stepped up and took the seat beside him.  
'I need you to deliver a message to Shor's Stone before dawn,' I said simply. 'Are you up to the task?'  
He swallowed the mouthful of mead and looked over at me half-heartedly. 'I could be talked into it.'  
I stifled my irritation and reached for the coin purse that Brynjolf had given me earlier. 'Will this be enough?' I asked irritably and tossed the purse at him.  
The bosmer caught the coin purse easily and weighed it in his palm. 'To whom am I delivering the message?' he asked.  
'Look for a dunmer that goes by the name of Karliah, she'll most likely be sleeping at the inn in Shor's Stone. If she's not, I trust that you can find her,' I murmured.  
'What is the message?'  
I took a scrap of paper from the bar and pulled my charcoal pencil from my belt. I quickly scrawled my request onto the paper and folded it in half. I was hoping you could do some baby-sitting for us. Take care of the Guild until we get back – Bloodwing.  
The bosmer was looking at me with a strange expression on his face when he took the note. I didn't question him or thank him for carrying out my wishes. He'd taken fifty septims, he didn't need thanking.  
I stood from my seat at the bar and left the Bee and Barb, I circled around to the front to check that the courier was leaving before I traced my way back to the Guild.

A few moments later Brynjolf and I were seated upon our own horses. Brynjolf's stallion was the colour of cream with a slightly darker toned mane and tail. It had dark brown spots on its flanks and brown stockings. It was the most beautiful creature that I had ever seen.  
I hadn't known that Brynjolf had a horse.  
My own was also a stallion, but he was mostly black in colour with a slightly lighter mane and tail. He had one white sock on his front left leg and a bunch of light grey spots between his eyes.  
'I wasn't originally planning to come with you lass, but this may make your training over the coming weeks go a lot more smoothly.' Brynjolf murmured. 'Most of the skills that I wanted Delvin to help you hone are skills that he taught me himself.'  
I didn't reply. Honestly, I don't think I expected Brynjolf to come with me either, but I was glad that I had been able to change his mind. I wasn't the best at sweet talk and I had a feeling that Talsgar's teaching wouldn't go smoothly for me no matter how good of a teacher he was.  
'As you said lass, the sooner you get this whole job done, the sooner you can come home,' he murmured.  
Forcing myself not to flush slightly, I leaned down against my stallion's neck and urged him into a slow canter. Brynjolf quickly followed in suit, catching up to my side again. I hadn't been lying about his company making the road-trip easier, both of our senses drank in the world around us. Both of us were listening intently to make sure that no one had followed us from Riften and to make sure that we would know when someone was approaching.  
When Riften was lost in the trees, we both began to relax and slowed our stallions to a trot. I sat up straight in my saddle, only lightly holding the reins. Neither of us talked as we rode on into the night, passing the occasional pack of wolves or lone sabre cat. We didn't meet anyone else on the road and as I had predicted, we were a few miles away from Ivarstead when the sun finally bought light back to Skyrim. The light made me uncomfortable, I found myself keeping my stallion on the edge of the road where the trees provided shade.  
Brynjolf noticed my unease and chuckled quietly. 'What is it lass? Afraid of a bit of sunlight?'  
I gritted my jaw and led my stallion back out into the sun. I refused to let Brynjolf assume that I was afraid, but I was. The light made it harder to hide from travellers and bandits we could meet on the road. Despite my unease I continued to lead my stallion down the centre of the road, but I never lost focus on the world around me.

* * *

After three hours had gone by, the Throat of the World began to peek down at us through the light cloud cover that always seemed to surround it. My paranoia seemed to increase steadily with the rising of the sun. Nothing slipped past Brynjolf, he noticed my stress as well and I could tell that it was making him nervous too. Even though he had obviously noticed it, Brynjolf hadn't teased me about my anxiety after the first time.  
When we finally reached Ivarstead without any trouble, I finally began to calm down a little. My heart was still pounding a million miles a minute, but my head was no longer clouded by fear. I wasn't constantly scanning the trees around us with my left hand resting on the hilt of the hidden dagger strapped to my thigh.  
Brynjolf pulled his stallion to a stop outside the inn and looped the reins around the porch fence. I hesitated in my saddle before doing the same and following Brynjolf inside. I tried to ignore the curious stares that the guards threw in our direction.  
When we were inside, Brynjolf stopped me before we were within earshot of the others at the bar. He leaned down until his eyes were only a few inches higher than mine, they were filled with worry.  
'What happened back there, Kirani?' he asked in a hushed voice.  
I tore my eyes from his, feeling blush return to my cheeks as humiliation pumped through me. I shrugged, unable to say anything else.  
Brynjolf sighed. Unhappy with my silence, he lifted my chin with a single finger so that our gaze met again.  
'Tell me,' he ordered.  
I swallowed, the majority of me wanting to shake my head or lie but I couldn't lie to him like this. He would be able to tell and he wouldn't hesitate to call me out on it.  
'I was worried that we would get spotted,' I said simply.  
'By who?'  
'I don't know, guards, travellers, bandits … anyone,' I murmured.  
When his finger dropped from my chin, I looked down at my feet again.  
He sighed, and without looking at him I knew that he was running a hand through his shoulder length red hair. I continued to look at the floor, the knowledge that he could see my blush made me blush even more with embarrassment.  
I heard him inhale as if he was going to say something, but he hesitated before he could fully form the words. Curious, I automatically looked back up at him to find him staring down at me with an unrecognisable emotion on his face. I watched as his eyes softened and he relaxed a little.  
'I wouldn't let them touch you, lass,' he murmured.  
Before the meaning of his words could even begin to sink in, he turned around and walked straight towards the bar. Pushing my swelling feelings for him to the back of my mind, I cast my gaze over the bar and immediately found who Brynjolf was stalking towards, Talsgar was here.


	5. To Bribe A Nomad (Dreaming)

_**A/N: **__Similarly to the previous chapter, this one hasn't been read over multiple times yet. I will be reading over the both of them soon and fixing the errors that I come across. Thanks for all of the support so far, means a lot :) _

**___**DISCLAIMER: As you know, I do not own the Elder Scrolls. Therefore all of the credit involving the game goes to the talented people at Bethesda Softworks. In saying that, some of the characters, a bunch of plot stuffs and mystical happenings that happen in this story belong to me.**___**

* * *

Brynjolf didn't gesture for me to follow him so I walked to one of the empty tables towards the back of the room and sat down. I pulled my hood up to cover my face in shadows before letting my eyes move towards the bar. Wilhelm was glancing in my direction as he wiped down the unaccompanied end of the bar. I knew that he had recognised me when I walked in the door when his eyes shot to Brynjolf and looked him over suspiciously.  
The bulky red headed Nord sat down casually next to Talsgar, leaving an empty seat in between so that the bard wouldn't feel threatened. At first Brynjolf didn't even glance at the bard that he had sat next to, he just ordered smoked salmon, bread and a bottle of wine. After Brynjolf paid, Wilhelm opened a bottle of wine and passed it to Brynjolf before turning away to work on the salmon steak. Brynjolf took the loaf of freshly baked bread from the bar in front of him and began eating it.  
Brynjolf took a sip from the bottle and shifted in his seat, glancing at Talsgar as he did so. Brynjolf's stance and facial expression shifted and I knew that he was putting on a different personality.  
'You're that wandering bard,' he said loudly without his usual accent. 'How's life on the road?'  
Talsgar looked over at Brynjolf, he was facing away from me so I could only see his back side.  
'You are correct, kinsman. I am Talsgar the Wanderer,' he stated confidently. 'Life on the road is as it always is, filled with fresh air and inspiration for song.  
'Brynjolf turned back to look at Wilhelm's back. He sipped his wine again. 'I've never been much of a singer myself, talking has always been my strong suit. I don't mean to brag, but my silver tongue has saved my life more times than I can count.'  
Talsgar chuckled. 'It seems that we have that in common, kinsman.'  
Brynjolf smiled at Talsgar, I could see the charming glint in his eye from where I was sitting. He was using everything he knew about persuasion on Talsgar all at once.  
Be careful, Bryn, he's a master speaker too, I thought worriedly.  
Talsgar didn't seem to notice or care, somehow I knew that he was probably returning Brynjolf's charming smile with one of his own.  
Brynjolf took another sip of wine and began picking apart his bread. 'So what is it that brings you to this town, Wanderer?'  
A smile tugged at my lips, Brynjolf had become so casual now that if I hadn't have known what he was trying to achieve; I would never have been able to pick up on it. It was like Talsgar was an old friend of his.  
'I was planning to climb the ten thousand steps for the first time in years. It would be inspiring to follow the same steps that the Dragonborn did on his journey to destroy the World Eater,' Talsgar replied.  
Brynjolf nodded. 'That it would. I've never walked them myself, you might end up having some company.'  
Talsgar chuckled again, downing the rest of the mead in his bottle. 'I'll think about it, kinsman. How long are you planning to stay in Ivarstead?'  
Brynjolf's reply was instant. 'A few days, I came here with an apprentice of mine to teach her the wonders of the world. I was hoping to sharpen her tongue a little as well. She's not so good at smooth talking her way out of the trouble that follows her around like a lost puppy.'  
Talsgar laughed and turned to fully face Brynjolf. 'Where is she?' he asked.  
Brynjolf didn't say anything, he just met my eye across the room and nodded in my direction. Talsgar followed his gaze and the smile fell from his face.  
I stood up and removed the hood, making my way over to the bar. Talsgar's jaw had dropped and I forced myself not to blush at his reaction. I guess that my features were rare for a young Nord woman. When most Nords had white hair, it had passed the silver colour of old age.  
When I sat down between Brynjolf and Talsgar, I knew that the bard had put a name to my face. Even if Talsgar had met more than one thousand people on the road since he last saw me, my light features were rare enough that they were difficult to forget.  
'Kirani, it's been a long time,' he began, the smile fading from his lips. 'I should've known that you'd come after me again.' He shot Brynjolf a cold glance. 'I should've seen right past your silver tongue, luckily you both caught me on what seems like an off day,' he raised the almost-empty bottle of mead he was nursing. 'What I said last time you asked this of me remains true, you would learn more from the Bards College than you will from me.'  
'I don't have enough time to venture to Solitude, and there is more training that I must do that isn't available there,' I replied. 'You're our best bet for speech training.'  
Talsgar's eyes narrowed. 'Why can't your friend here teach you? He's got natural talent that has obviously been honed in the past.'  
'Because her friend here has to teach her two other skills and find information about our travel route. While she's off with you, I have time to read the many books I have in my saddle bags,' Brynjolf said smoothly. 'For each hour you take her off of my hands, I'll give you fifty gold.'  
Talsgar sighed, silence washed over the three of us for a moment. He looked up at our expectant expressions and sighed again, letting his head hang a little.  
'One hundred,' Talsgar corrected.  
'Eighty,' Brynjolf said coolly.  
'Eighty five.'  
'Done.'  
Talsgar winced when he looked back up at me. 'I don't even want to tell you what happened the last time I agreed to hone someone's speech skills…'  
'It won't happen again, trust me. The things you teach me won't be used against the citizens of Skyrim,' I murmured. 'There are plenty of speech trainers in Tamriel. You've got nothing to worry about, Wanderer.'  
'I'm guessing that was supposed to be comforting,' Talsgar muttered before turning to Brynjolf. 'You never told me your name, Kinsman.'  
I noticed Brynjolf's slight hesitation. 'My name is Bryn, with no titles.'  
'Bryn, huh?' Talsgar repeated, testing the name on his tongue. 'Just a touch feminine, but I've heard worse. I met an Altmer thief that goes by the name Linwe, strange name that one.'  
Brynjolf glanced at me as he shook hands with Talsgar. His glance turned into a glare when he saw that I was stifling a smirk. Underneath the teasing, I was both proud and envious of him. Throughout his whole conversation with Talsgar he hadn't dropped or screwed up his feigned accent once.  
Talsgar downed the rest of his mead and stood. 'Well, I best be off. I have to earn the money to pay for tonight's rent. And before you say anything, yes I know that one training session would easily pay for it, but I'm not in the mood for teaching right now. Come find me tomorrow morning, I'll be ready to teach you then.'  
He turned and left without another word, I glanced at Brynjolf who shifted out of his façade.  
'That was easier than I expected it to be,' I murmured.  
'Aye,' Brynjolf replied, glancing up at me. I was glad to hear his heavy accent again. 'It was a lot cheaper than I expected too, lass.'  
The sound and smell of sizzling fish made Brynjolf and I look up at Wilhelm, he was now finishing Brynjolf's salmon steak. My stomach rumbled loudly and I chuckled. I hadn't been hungry when we left, during the journey here, or even when we walked into the Vilemyr Inn.  
Wordlessly, Brynjolf tossed his destroyed piece of bread to me. I caught it and began wolfing it down like a starved dog. I felt Brynjolf's surprised gaze on me and paused to look up and meet his eyes.  
His lips twitched up. So my ravenous state amuses you huh? I thought to myself, bemused.  
Brynjolf noticed the confusion in my eyes. 'You eat like I haven't fed you in weeks, lass. Would you like some wine as well?'  
He held half-full bottle to me and I took it thankfully. I didn't hold back on drinking it either, I swallowed a few good mouthfuls of the sweet wine before handing it back to the shocked Nord.  
I looked at him mockingly. 'What are you looking at, boy? Too much woman for you to handle?'  
A mischievous spark flashed in his sea green eyes and I instantly regretted starting this kind of war with Brynjolf. His smirk grew wider as he took his bottle back, his eyes leaving mine as he took a sip from it.  
'In your dreams, lass. I've had women more woman than you wrapped around my finger, sweeping you off your feet would be a breeze,' he retorted cockily.  
I rolled my eyes and chuckled. 'With hands that small? Who's dreaming now?'  
Wilhelm suddenly turned around with Brynjolf's salmon on a wooden plate and ready to be served. He hesitated when he saw that I had joined Brynjolf at the bar but smiled welcomingly at me when he recovered.  
'It's been a while, Kirani. What brings you here after all these years?' he asked as he placed the salmon in front of Brynjolf. 'You haven't been back here since your father … passed away.'  
I winced inwardly, but smiled back at Wilhelm, hoping that Brynjolf had missed that. 'That it has, Wilhelm. I'm here to see the sights, you know how much I love the woods here. The Inn hasn't changed one bit.'  
Brynjolf began eating his salmon and I could feel his eyes burning into the side of my head.  
'Aye, the Inn has character this way,' Wilhelm replied. 'I fix the roof and walls when they're tired but that's about all I do. The only visitors now are the afternoon crowds and the occasional traveller so I don't really earn enough gold to do much else. This week is the first time Talsgar's been back for three years.'  
'Bryn and I are going to be staying here for about a week, we'll pay for our room when it gets closer to nightfall,' I informed him as I glanced down at Brynjolf.  
'You don't need to pay me, Kirani,' Wilhelm replied. 'You can both earn your keep by chopping firewood, cleaning and helping me run the bar when the townsfolk come in after sundown.'  
'Wilhelm,' I began in a protesting tone.  
He waved off my attempt at an argument. 'No, Kirani, gold won't get me much out here anyway. I earn enough every afternoon to get what I need to run this place anyway.'  
'But you just said –' he cut me off again.  
'Enough, you will both still have to pay for your food and drink so I am still getting some gold out of your stay, Kirani,' he glanced at the two of us. 'Now is there anything that I can get you, or are you sated?'  
I shook my head. 'I'm fine thanks, Wilhelm.'  
With that, he went back to cleaning the bar and reorganising the food and drink on display. It didn't take long for Brynjolf to finish eating and when he did, we both bid Wilhelm farewell and left the inn.  
'What are we going to do now?' I asked as I followed Brynjolf towards our horses.  
'First, we're going to get out of Ivarstead,' he replied softly as he checked the tightness of the straps in his saddle. 'Second, we're going to find somewhere secluded to train. Third, you're going to tell me why Wilhelm seems to know so much about you and you're also going to tell me about your family.'  
Brynjolf climbed onto his saddle, I winced when he stopped talking and began checking the tightness of the straps in my saddle.  
'Why do you want to know about Wilhelm?' I asked in a whining tone.  
'Because, lass, I don't know anything about you apart from your thieving side. Since we're going to be stuck together for the coming days, I would like to change that,' he replied simply.  
I closed my eyes and tried to stop myself from slamming my forehead against my saddle. A few seconds passed before I took a deep breath, opened my eyes and mounted my horse.  
'I don't know anything about you either,' I replied.  
I clicked my tongue at the stallion beneath me and turned him to face the road. Brynjolf didn't reply or make a move to follow me. I glanced back at him and met his gaze. I couldn't read the emotion that was churning in his eyes, but it was powerful and my heart picked up the pace at the sight of it.  
I sighed and looked away, knowing that eventually Brynjolf would get his answers. There was little I could do but make the wait shorter for him, so I decided to take him to the place that had all of the answers.  
'Follow me, I know where we can train.'


	6. So It Begins (Dreaming)

_**A/N: **Sorry about the late update, I meant to upload this before I graduated and went camping for a week but completely forgot (yay, no more school!) Again I must say that I haven't__ fully read over this chapter yet, I will be reading over it soon and will fix the mistakes that I find. If any of you happen to find grammatical mistakes, feel free to tell me in the reviews/comments, thanks! _Hopefully the next chapter is done quicker than this one. _Also, thank you for the support so far, it means a lot :) _

___**DISCLAIMER: As you know, I do not own the Elder Scrolls. Therefore, all of the credit involving the game goes to the talented people at Bethesda Softworks. In saying that, some of the characters, a bunch of plot stuffs and mystical happenings that happen in this story belong to me.**___

* * *

Memories flashed before my eyes as we entered the overgrown clearing. The wooden remains of the house still smoking with a group of people standing near the riverbank.  
'What is this place, lass?' he asked, but I knew that he already half-knew the answer.  
I pulled lightly on the reins, stopping my stallion. Brynjolf did the same, looking at the remains of the burnt down house.  
'This is where my father lived. It is also where he died, and where he was buried,' I murmured.  
Brynjolf stared at me in shocked silence. I dismounted and led my stallion to a tree where I tied his reins around a branch. I walked up the decaying stairs of the house and stood where the front door would have been, fighting the prickling sensation in my eyes. I rested my head on what remained of the doorframe as I stared at the crumbling fireplace, trying to imagine my father working there.  
'Kirani … lass, I'm so sorry,' Brynjolf murmured, suddenly behind me.  
Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I lead Brynjolf over to the riverbank, where his headstone still stood proudly. Without saying anything, I sat down at the foot of his grave and looked up at Brynjolf.  
'What else do you want to know?' I asked calmly.  
Brynjolf blinked and composed himself before sitting down beside me. 'Tell me about your family.'  
I hesitated, part of me wanting to just tell him the basics, but I knew that he wanted more than that. Uneasiness crept through me, I wasn't used to being so open with anyone. Especially _him_.  
'Well, my mother was a bard who went by the name Janette and my father was a farmer who went by the name of Clintos. That basically sums up how they met, I don't really know much about her. They got married, had a son and after a couple of years, a daughter too. Mum died giving birth to me, Marcus left to join the Stormcloaks when I was a preteen. I learnt everything from my father; my hunting, sneaking, swordplay and even my baser thieving skills. He never actually taught me how to snatch a rich man's coin purse, but setting some traps and smithing small objects requires the same light touch. I left home when I was sixteen to live in Riften, you know the rest of my story from then on. After I moved out, dad sold the farm to his half-brother Jofthor and his family so he could build this cottage. I didn't come back to visit him, I don't think I really realised it had been two years. But nevertheless, one morning I got a letter from a courier informing me when his funeral was. As soon as I got to Ivarstead that day, I went straight to Fastred and asked her what had happened. The house had burned down, and my father with it.'  
Silence overcame the both of us, I didn't know what else to say. Brynjolf didn't seem to know what to say either. He stared down at his hands, which were open in his lap.  
'I never knew my parents. Karliah, Mercer and Gallus turned out to be the only family I needed. I will never forget how I felt when I found out that Gallus had been murdered,' he murmured.  
My gaze fell on the water following steadily over the lakebed at our feet, small birds fluttered in the long grass behind and around us. In a way, I was glad that Fastred had let the land come to this overgrown state. It was a somewhat comforting thought to know that my father's decomposing remains would benefit the smaller animals and vegetation.  
'I never got to say goodbye to him, Bryn,' I whispered and shamed tears filled my eyes. A lump grew in my throat that made it hard to speak. 'I never got to tell him how much I loved him, or how much I would miss him.'  
In the corner of my eye, Brynjolf's head tilted up to look at me, I didn't return his gaze. Shame weighed down my heart and I cursed the weak tears that slid down my cheeks, knowing that now that the dam had been broken, nothing could stop the flood.  
Sobs shook my body, as two parts of myself fought against each other. One side fighting for the hope that Brynjolf would comfort me, the other hoping with all of its might that he wouldn't. I felt my heart stutter at the thought of his lips on mine, I pushed the thought out of my head.  
_No, you're not supposed to think something like that about him. He's a womanizer and he's also six years older than you,_ I chastised myself, closing my eyes and letting my face fall into my hands.  
Distracting myself slowed the flow of my tears. Just as I had the wild emotions raging around my heart under control, Brynjolf put a solid arm around me and pulled me into his lap. For a moment I just froze with shock, his strong and warm arms wrapped protectively around my waist, his chest pressed up against my back as his chin rested on my shoulder. I unfroze, pulled my legs to my chest and hugged them, basking in the sun as well as Brynjolf's natural warmth. My tears stopped completely, and the side that wanted Brynjolf to comfort me won. I closed my eyes and began to relax in his arms, ready and willing to stay sitting in his arms for a lifetime.  
'I never knew my parents. I grew up in Honour Hall, the only "parent" I had in that place was the hag Grelod the Kind. You already know how much of a caregiver she is,' Brynjolf murmured. 'As soon as I was old enough to take care of myself, she threw me out onto the streets where I stole from the people of Riften. That's when Gallus and Karliah found me, took me in and trained me up.'  
In my mind, I pictured the younger Brynjolf being forced to slave away for Grelod as all of her children used to. The image made a menacing anger boil in my stomach, and – to my surprise – I was glad of the day that Grelod had been murdered.  
'Gallus, Mercer and Karliah were family; parents or siblings. Although Mercer seemed to distance himself from Gallus and Karliah a lot, so he was more of a distant uncle or something like that. Yet somehow, I still believed him when he told the Guild that Karliah had killed Gallus and tried to kill him in the process,' he paused for a moment, looking down at me. 'I never told you how glad I am that you cleared Karliah's name and brought her back to us, lass.'  
Silence overcame us again. For a moment, we just looked into each other's eyes and said nothing. When the gaze began to get heated, I was the first to look away.  
'Now,' Brynjolf said as he stood. 'Which skill would you like to hone first, lass?'  
He held his hand out to me, I took it and he pulled me to my feet. It amazed me how one minute he could be filled with so much emotion, and the next he was stone-faced and serious.  
'What skills are lacking?' I asked, trying to compose myself.  
'Well I would like to make you better at infiltration, lockpicking and mastering sneak would be wise as well,' he murmured and began pacing in front of me. 'Lockpicking would be the skill that needs the most attention to be honest, lass.'  
'Well, we'll begin with the lockpicking then,' I said enthusiastically. 'How does one teach that skill anyway? It seems more like something you learn yourself with a few tips to get you on your way.'  
Brynjolf turned and faced me with a half smirk tugging on his lips. 'You're right lass, it is something you learn yourself. How many lockpicks do you have on you at the moment?'  
Confused, I pulled open my satchel and grabbed the handful of lockpicks I had gathered over the years. When I held them out to Brynjolf, a sly grin returned to his face as he took them from me.  
'What…?' I began, but trailed off when I noticed that he was counting them.  
'If you don't mind, I'll be keeping these on me for a while lass,' he said mockingly as he closed his hand. 'You'll get five each day. With those five picks, you will have to unlock several strongboxes that I give you. The first couple will be an average difficulty to get you accustomed to the tumblers. If you break all five lockpicks on a box, you'll have to wait until the next morning to get more.'  
'Are you going to be giving me advice?' I asked, taking five lockpicks as he handed them to me.  
'Of course, lass,' he said, his eyes wide with feigned innocence. 'Whenever I see fit, but what you said is true; the style of lockpicking differs from person to person so it will be quicker if you teach yourself how to do it.'  
I nodded, pocketing four of the picks. 'So where's my first task?'  
Brynjolf smiled at me before reaching into his pocket and tossing a small box in my direction. I caught it as he walked passed me towards the horses.  
'First, I want you to open the lock as quickly as you can,' Brynjolf called as he fiddled with his saddlebags. 'It's a cheap lock so it should be easy enough for you.'  
'I do have some experience you know,' I murmured.  
'I know lass, I just need to see your technique at first,' he replied.  
Nodding as I sat down, I looked down at the box in my hands and uncertainly back up at Brynjolf. He nodded for me to proceed and I nervously placed four of the picks in my lap as I shifted my hold on the box. I studied the lock, it was obviously cheaply made as the metal was nowhere near as smooth and defined as it would be on a more expensive lock. I took a deep breath to steady myself and pulled a thin dagger from my pocket. The tumblers made clicking noises when the pick passed over them, I experimented until I got the perfect position and began to turn the dagger.  
The box unlocked with a loud click that had finality to it. I looked up at Brynjolf to see his reaction.  
He stared down at me with a strange expression on his face.  
'What?' I asked, looking down at the box to see if I had done something wrong, it was open and empty in my hands.  
'One would be a fool to believe that thieving is not your natural talent,' he said, a small grin tugging at his lips. 'You did everything right lass. The way you inserted the pick, the way you felt around for the tumblers and pinpointed their location before attempting to open the lock. If I didn't know any better, I would've thought you'd been doing it for years.'  
Blush burned my cheeks and I looked away from him. Since when was Brynjolf so forward with complements and the like? I remembered back when he considered me a pup, inexperienced and unfocused. He would tell me so several times a day and yet my confusing feelings for him continued to grow. I remembered when I failed my first mission, Brynjolf – stressed about the Guild's descent into poverty – had reprimanded me quite loudly in front of our Guildmates. He had said I was useless, that I was a failure and that I was too unfocused to learn from what my mistakes were teaching me.  
Yet here I was, in the remains of my father's home with a completely different side of Brynjolf. I was no longer pushing myself hard to impress him, every little thing that I did seemed to be doing so without my effort.  
I looked down at the open box in my hands, suddenly uncertain of myself. _What caused this change? Is he just being kinder to me because I agreed to help him with the Elder Scroll? _I questioned myself mentally.  
'This may not take as long as I thought it would, lass,' Bryn said happily. 'The quicker this is over with the quicker…' I looked up at him, he cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair. 'The quicker I can sleep soundly at night knowing that the Grey Fox will never touch that Scroll.'  
I frowned, confused at the slight redness in his cheeks and his sudden shyness. _What was he about to say?  
_'Bryn, it was a novice lock,' I said quickly. 'Don't speak too soon, I've unlocked plenty of novice locks in my lifetime. I have never attempted locks that are higher than adept.'  
A childish grin stole his face, all traces of his nervousness faded. 'All locks are novice lass, you just need to get used to their patterns.'  
A similar smile stole my lips, I stood to hand the opened box back to him. 'How can a master lock be the same as a novice lock? I thought the whole point of them was that they were different.'  
Brynjolf chuckled quietly. 'The only difference that they have is the touchiness of their tumblers. In easier locks, the area of tumblers is bigger, it decreases in size the harder the lock but the pattern remains the same.'  
'Oh,' I replied simply, feeling like an idiot.  
It didn't seem to take much to get Brynjolf to laugh. Nevertheless, his smile was contagious and I found myself smiling with him even though it was my lack of lockpick knowledge that he was laughing at. I stood and walked towards the river. As I watched, a leaf fell from the birch tree next to me and landed in the flowing water. I watched as the orange spot of colour disappeared downstream. The silence that had fallen over Brynjolf and I was a welcome one. I studied the familiar landscape around me. Ivarstead held so many memories, both good and bad. It seemed to complete itself more to have Brynjolf here with me, looking into my past and clearing a path for my future.  
'I don't want to leave this moment,' I murmured. My heart pumped as soon as the words left my lips, it was a thought I hadn't meant to voice, but I continued with it anyway. 'Everything just seems to fit together perfectly. I don't feel the weight any more, Brynjolf. I don't feel the guilt of my father's death pressing down on me.'  
He pulled me around to face him, my chest hit his. My heart picked up the pace when I registered how close he was to me. His hand slid down my arm and rested on the curve of my hip.  
'Lass …' he trailed off, looking down at my neck as he cupped it with his other hand and searched for words. When his eyes met mine again, I was shocked to see so much emotion in them. 'You have no idea just how much you mean to me.'  
My muscles locked up when he started to lean in, I held my breath when his gaze dropped to my lips. I felt Brynjolf freeze, I let my eyelids flutter closed and waited for him to make the move. Every muscle in my body craving the feeling of his lips against mine.  
For a moment, all I felt was the cold breeze rushing against me. I couldn't figure out why the feeling could give me so much disappointment. I frowned and opened my eyes, searching for Brynjolf.  
He was standing a few feet away from me with his back to me, his hands gripping fistfuls of his fiery hair. My frown deepened and I took an uncertain step towards him. I opened my mouth and was about to ask, but as the words became lumps in my throat, he whirled around with a fierce emotion burning in his sea green eyes.  
'To Oblivion with it, lass,' he murmured huskily. 'The rules don't apply to us anymore.'  
By the time that I had blinked, Brynjolf had taken two strides towards me, cupped my face in his hands and met his lips with mine. At first, I was too shocked to kiss him back. My muscles tensed up as an unfamiliar fire began to burn through me. I moaned and relaxed into Brynjolf's strong embrace, my lips mirroring the movements that his made. At the sound of my moan, a low growl tore its way up Brynjolf's throat. A shudder passed through me at the sound. Brynjolf's hands left my neck and trailed down to my hips. He lifted me off the ground and wrapped my legs around his waist. I moaned again when he started walking, a gasp escaping my lips when my back collided with the trunk of a tree.  
Disbelief began clouding my mind, had Brynjolf known all along about my feelings for him? Had he … had he felt the same way? Before I even realised the fact that I had hesitated, Brynjolf pulled back and looked at me with confusion in his eyes.  
'What is it, lass?' he murmured, it satisfied me some to hear his lust in his voice.  
I shook my head. 'Nothing, Bryn …' I trailed off, already regretting what I was about to say. 'But perhaps this isn't the best time to be copulating. I have to leave in two weeks and there isn't …' I stopped myself from voicing my doubt. 'What I'm trying to say is, maybe we should wait until this is all said and done.'  
I watched as he read between the lines of what I had said. For a brief moment, pain stole away the light in his eyes. When I blinked it returned again and he was smiling down at me, but he hadn't released my legs.  
'You're right of course, lass,' he murmured, stroking my hip with his thumb one last time before lowering me gently to the ground.  
I smiled shyly up at him before turning to face the river again.  
'Although I'm hoping that you aren't asking me to make any promises that I cannot keep,' he murmured, my heart fluttered as I realised the meaning of his words. 'That would not be very wise, lass.'


	7. Promise Me (Dreaming)

**_A/N: _**_Yes, I am still alive XD ... So, so sorry about the EXTREMELY late upload! Not only was I suffering from some pretty scary writer's block, but I also started University and boy has that kept me busy! Anyhow, I haven't had the chance to read over this chapter yet so forgive me if there are any mistakes or things that don't quite make sense. I will be reading over it over the next few days and I'll change the mistakes I find :) _

_This is the second last chapter of 'Dreaming', a fact that makes me extremely happy because I cannot wait to write the rest of this story! Now that I've finally figured out some major details in the plot, very exciting stuff is going to happen when Kirani is a vampire :D Anyhow, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I hope that the next one isn't so hard for me to write :) _

___**DISCLAIMER: As you know, I do not own the Elder Scrolls. Therefore, all of the credit involving the game goes to the talented people at Bethesda Softworks. In saying that, some of the characters, a bunch of plot stuffs and mystical happenings that happen in this story belong to me.**___

* * *

Talsgar had a very similar teaching method to Brynjolf. The only difference between the two was that lockpicking and sneak came relatively easy to me, persuading however, gave me a headache.  
He laughed when I failed to persuade Temba Wide-Arms to give me more gold for firewood. 'This isn't going to be as easy as I had thought, Kirani.'  
I swallowed my pride and sold the firewood for the usual five septims. 'You're not exactly _helping _me get better,' I muttered.  
He ignored my comment. 'We're going to have to try something else. Next time you're training with the red-head, tell him to take you hunting.'  
'My skill with a bow is the least of your worries right now, besides, Bryn is paying you to coach me in persuasion,' I replied angrily.  
Talsgar sighed and rolled his eyes. 'He should've warned me about you inability to listen when someone is recommending the easiest course of action for the both of us.'  
'No, he should've warned you about how much I hate it when people waste my time _and _my money,' I retorted.  
'It's not your money I'm wasting, Kirani. Now stop being childish and listen to what I have to say,' he retorted irritably. 'He should take you to hunt because it will allow you to improve not only your sneak, but the meat and furs that you bring back can take the place of firewood.'  
_The next few weeks aren't going to be as easy as I had hoped,_ I sighed, exhausted. _At least I will be getting a healthy amount of sleep, I won't have the energy to stay awake.  
_We began walking away from the mill and towards the tavern. I handed the handful of gold that Temba had given me to Talsgar. Surprise lit his features as he took it from me, but he – wisely – didn't comment.  
Brynjolf was leaning against the terrace fence, casually rolling a coin through his fingers as he waited for us. Seeing him standing there brought back memories of the day before. We had returned to Ivarstead at dusk and cut firewood for Wilhelm, just as he had said we would do. Brynjolf had helped run the bar while Wilhelm cooked and I cleaned, when the townsfolk returned to their homes at around midnight, Brynjolf and I retreated to our room and slept with each other's company.  
Talsgar stopped suddenly, returning me to the present. I stopped beside him as he started to speak.  
'Tell your red-headed friend that he doesn't need to pay me until the job is done. But I expect at least fifteen hundred septims from him,' Talsgar said calmly. 'I'll see you this time tomorrow morning, good luck with hunting.'  
He left before I could reply, I turned and looked up to where Brynjolf was waiting for me. He had seen me now, his sparkling eyes were locked on mine. I took a deep breath and continued my way up to him.  
'How goes the training, lass?' he asked with a sly grin.  
I shot him a pointed look before walking inside to collect my hunting gear. Brynjolf and I had unpacked our saddlebags and unsaddled our horses before Talsgar had taken me off to train.  
Brynjolf laughed at the look on my face and followed close behind me. 'You look as though you are on a mission, lass. I haven't even told you what we are going to be doing this afternoon,' he called from behind me.\  
'We're going hunting,' I muttered. 'Talsgar's idea.'  
I smiled at Wilhelm when I passed him. Brynjolf almost ran into me when I stopped at the doorway to our room. I could almost hear him frowning, the thought put a small smile on my face.  
'He said that it would aid you in teaching me how to sneak. He also wants me to try selling the furs and meats to the local hunters at higher prices than they're willing to buy them for,' I informed him.  
'It's a smart idea, lass,' Brynjolf replied. 'It will be easier to train you in sneak if there is a real hint of danger. One usually takes more care where they step when they don't know what is around them.'  
Sighing, I strapped my quiver to my back and strung my elven bow, admiring the way the torchlight made the quicksilver shine.  
'Let's just get this over with,' I muttered before standing to face Brynjolf.

* * *

'Follow the shadows, make sure you are constantly aware of where you're putting your feet,' Brynjolf whispered in my ear.  
I held my bow at half draw with an arrow knocked and ready, and snuck forward. Glee spread through me when the huge snow bear in the middle of the road growled and kicked at the carcass at its feet, completely unaware of my presence. A grin threatened to touch my lips as I realised how much I had improved. Sneaking wasn't only accomplished by sticking to the shadows – although that certainly helped those who didn't have the skill – but an expert at it was in tune to his surroundings. The slightest changes in the wind, the passing of clouds overhead, the presence of other beings in his general area.  
Brynjolf had said that to be a master at sneak, one would have to open up to their instincts so that this heightened sense of spatial awareness came automatically. At first I thought it sounded somewhat insane, but as I struggled through tests that Brynjolf made me do, I began to notice changes in how I saw the world around me. I began to notice every small movement, I felt the eyes of other people or animals pass over me.  
I didn't realise how much better I had become at sneak until I hid from Brynjolf one day as a joke, he'd been standing right in front of me several times without noticing that I was there.  
The bear proved to be none the smarter, even with stronger senses and instincts that were surely warning it of unfriendly eyes. I crept towards the base of a snow covered birch tree, pulling my drawstring back to full draw. I kneeled and rested the feathers of the arrow on my cheek as I sighted down the bow, aiming for the bear's eye.  
Releasing my breath slowly and loudly, I waited until the bear looked up at the sound before I released the arrow. Instinct told me the shot was flawless as soon as it left the bow, the startled grunt of the bear as it fell dead to the floor proved that to me even more. I lowered my bow and waited for further instruction from Brynjolf.  
'Well done, lass,' he murmured, his appearance beside me didn't shock me like it once would have. 'Skin the beast and we're done for the day.'  
Confused, I glanced up at the sky. The angle of the sun told me it was only a few hours before midday, why did he want to waste the rest of the day? Noticing my confused glance at the sky, Brynjolf chuckled and turned away.  
'You better hurry lass, Talsgar and I have a surprise for you,' he murmured before his figure merged with the shadows of the forest as he headed back to Ivarstead.  
My heart fluttered nervously as I unstrung my bow and secured it to my quiver. It had been a week since Talsgar had completed his training with me and began a long and dangerous journey to Winterhold. I wasn't aware that he had intended to return, but I was glad I'd be able to see him before I left for Cyrodiil. The wandering bard had taught me all he knew and during that time, my bitterness towards him had become a respect and kinship I felt with few others. I suspected that I had earned his respect and trust as well.  
In a few quick, practiced movements, I skinned the bear and looked guiltily down at its bloody carcass before following Brynjolf back to Ivarstead with the bear pelt folded neatly in my arms.

Ivarstead was unusually quiet when I returned, the only movement in the town was that of the livestock and the two guards that walked up and down the main road. I swallowed and tightened my grip on the bear pelt, already noting places to hide if something bad happened. When I reached the Vilemyr Inn, Wilhelm was sitting on the stairs outside nursing a tankard of what smelt like honeyed ale.  
He looked up when he saw me, glancing at the bear pelt I had in my arms before shifting his weight and he smiling.  
'Bryn and Talsgar are inside waiting for you, Kirani. They said that you will all be hitting the road soon, it was a pleasure having you around. Reminds me of the good ol' days when your old man would come 'round and help fix up the place. You're so much like him, for a woman. You've got the same fire in your eyes.'  
Wilhelm looked down at his tankard, face pleasantly optimistic.  
He sighed, smiling up at me again. 'You shouldn't keep your friends waiting, Kirani. If you're ever passing through Ivarstead in the future, remember to swing 'round.'  
I smiled back, a lump in my throat. It was like the day I left for Riften all over again. I wasn't one for goodbyes. 'I will, and thank you, Wilhelm. For everything.'  
He nodded and looked towards the north, shifting weight again. I knew he wasn't one for goodbyes either. Releasing a calming breath, I passed Wilhelm on the stairs and opened the door to his Inn. The smells of alcohol, bread and a wood fire welcomed me.  
It was equally quiet inside the Inn, I wondered what the "surprise" was that Brynjolf had in store for me. My training was complete, I opened master locks like I'd been opening them my whole life. Brynjolf was impressed with my abilities. Something that became obvious to me when his snarky attitude lessoned with me, although that also showed the emotional connection that had formed between the two of us. We'd only kissed once. Both of us seem to be happy to forget that it happened, but we continued to steadily grow fonder of each other. He learned to see through my masks, our minds seemed to be constantly in sync. Whenever I was around him I felt at ease. As long as we were together, no matter how many foes we faced, we'd still come out on top.  
Even though the two of us rarely spoke about ourselves, I felt as though I'd known him my whole life. We were two sides to the same coin, similar yet different.  
'Ah, right on time, lass,' Brynjolf's accented voice broke me out of my thoughts. 'Talsgar arrived just a moment ago.'  
I turned to face the three chairs in the centre of the inn where Brynjolf's voice had come from, the traces of a smile tugging at my lips. I wasn't surprised to find Talsgar's familiar face smiling eagerly at me. The kinship I had suspected was most definitely there.  
'Welcome back,' I beamed at him. 'I wasn't aware that you planned on returning but I'm glad you did.'  
'I couldn't miss your departure could I now?' Talsgar chuckled.  
Laughing, I placed the bear pelt on a table and made my way towards the empty chair. Talsgar surprised me with a hug, patting my back in a comradely way before laughing and sitting back down. Smiling heartily I sat down, looking from Talsgar to Brynjolf, wondering – again – what my surprise was.  
'We're both very proud of you, lass,' Brynjolf began. 'You've got a natural talent for putting your nose where it doesn't belong,' Brynjolf winked at me, warmth flooded my cheeks and I smiled shyly before looking away. 'Just so you know, lass, I'm not about to doubt your skill, you've made it quite clear to the both of us that you're good at what you do … but there'll be a time when I'm not around to watch your back.'  
My heart swelled at the unexpected complement from Brynjolf, I looked at him, somewhat baffled. He was staring down at a black velvet box in his hands, the shimmering silver insignia on the top of it was vaguely familiar but I couldn't remember where I'd seen it before. It was an eye inside what looked like some kind of star. He fiddled with it for a moment and I realised that he was fighting to establish a hold over his emotions.  
_What's in that box, Bryn? Why has it rendered you so nervous and jittery? _I thought suspiciously, my heart began to pound with nervousness.  
Finally, Brynjolf lifted his gaze to meet mine again.  
'Because of the danger you'll be in when you leave us, I decided to take a few precautions. When you completed your training with Talsgar, I asked him to travel to the College of Winterhold and have a few items enchanted for you,' Brynjolf finished softly.  
_So _that's _what that insignia was, the mark of the College, _I realised.  
He opened the box with a somewhat shaky hand, I glanced uncertainly at Talsgar, who smiled encouragingly back at me. I leaned forward to study what was in the box, two plain silver bands and a necklace with a design of which the likes I'd never seen. Usually the pendants of Skyrim were circular with a gem placed directly in the middle, or a cluster of gems following the diameter of the pendant. Instead, I found myself looking at an ebony incarnation of The Guild Shadowmark with a thin silver chain. There was a huge, glowing amethyst set to the circle in the centre of the Shadowmark with silver prongs. At first I thought the glowing effect was from the facets in the stone catching the firelight, but the surge of energy that passed through me when I picked it up told me otherwise. The amethyst had been enchanted by a master of the craft, just like Brynjolf had said.  
'I had that necklace made for you by Eorlund in Whiterun. I mailed the designs to him and he mailed the necklace to me, do you like it?' Brynjolf asked somewhat nervously.  
I frowned up at him, bewildered. Why would he go to the trouble of having a complex and _expensive_ necklace designed specifically for me when a simple plain one would have sufficed?  
When Brynjolf's face fell, I realised what my frown and stunned silence would look like to him. I smiled, showing my awe and gratitude in my eyes.  
'It's beautiful,' I murmured, looking down at the smooth ebony pendant.  
I didn't need to look at Brynjolf to know that relief was surging through him.  
'There are two enchantments placed upon the stone in that necklace,' called Talsgar, I had momentarily forgotten his presence. 'The strongest one forties your sneakiness, the other muffles your movement.'  
Brynjolf placed the box on the arm of his chair and stood, taking the necklace from me. The energy instantly faded when the chain left my hands and the amethyst lost most of its unnatural glow. Brynjolf undid the clasp and looked at me expectantly. I turned and lifted my hair. I didn't hear him step closer, but I could feel his irresistible warmth at my back. His hands slid past my neck and fastened the necklace too me quickly. When it dropped under my armour and hung just below the joining of my collarbones, the familiar energy surged through me again. I dropped my hair and turned to face Brynjolf.  
'What do the rings do?' I asked softly, an unexplainable feeling bubbling in my chest.  
Brynjolf looked at Talsgar, letting him answer the question as Brynjolf grabbed my hand and slid one ring onto my left forefinger. Another tingle of energy passed through me, less pronounced as the necklace, but still noticeable.  
'That ring makes you able to pick locks faster, more accurately and quieter,' Talsgar answered, Brynjolf grabbed my right hand and slid the last ring onto my right forefinger. 'And that one is enchanted with a very rare enchantment, one that make your attempts at persuading a lot more effective. An enchantment that you'll probably need more than the others,' Talsgar said jokingly.  
I rolled my eyes at him, smiling. Brynjolf stood up and met my gaze but didn't release my hand.  
'You're ready to go to Cyrodiil now, lass,' he murmured almost too softly for me to hear. I could see more in his eyes than just pride and joy, I could see his fear and his … sadness? Regret?  
My heart fluttered as my focus on the world around me faded. It was just Brynjolf and I, alone. I found myself wishing that that moment could last a lifetime. Just us staring into each other's eyes, the world around us forgotten. But … I had to see this through.  
I reluctantly looked away, pulling my hand from his. I felt the rejection burn through him before he realised what I was doing. What I was thinking. He understood, it was on his mind as well. I looked at Talsgar sheepishly, knowing that Brynjolf and I had just made the connection between the two of us obvious to him. The bard just smiled and stood, nothing about his actions was shocked or even awkward.  
'Anyhow, I'm off to converse with our good friend Wilhelm now,' he said cheerily as he walked to the bar and grabbed a bottle of honeyed ale. He smiled at the both of us before walking out of the Inn.  
Silence washed over us, I couldn't bring myself to meet his eyes, knowing I'd just lose myself in the emotion I found there. I stared at his feet, let my gaze follow the muscular curve of his legs.  
'Kirani, look at me,' he murmured, an undefinable emotion thickening his voice.  
I blinked and looked up to meet his gaze. Before I could even begin to recognise the emotions I saw there, his lips crashed against mine and my train of thought vanished. The breath of air I'd been holding in passed through my lips in a cross between a sigh and a moan. Brynjolf's arms went around me, trailing up and down the curve of my back. I rested my hands on his chest, tracing the straps of his armour a darker side of me wishing that he wasn't wearing it. The kiss became more desperate, one of Brynjolf's hands cupped my neck, pulling me closer to him. I slid my hands up to his shoulders and ran my fingers through his silky hair, pressing my chest up against his.  
I pulled back from the kiss, desperate for air. Brynjolf's lips trailed down to my neck, causing goosebumps to rise on my skin. Heat burned through me, warming every inch of my skin. I wanted Brynjolf, I wanted all of him and I wanted it _now_.  
The thought made me freeze. If I did this with Brynjolf, right here and right now … I'd never leave. Brynjolf sensed my hesitation and stopped kissing my neck, pulling back to look at me.  
'We can't do this Bryn … not now. I'll never leave if we do,' I murmured, a little breathless.  
He understood. Of course he understood. He was thinking the same thing. He knew it would only make it harder for us, but he continued to do it anyway. Taking guilty pleasure in it. I didn't want to stop, but I knew that we had to.  
He smiled a sad smile. 'You have everything you need now, lass. Take a walk with me?'  
I nodded, taking the hand he held out to me and entwining my fingers with his. I let him lead me from the Inn, the fire from our kiss still pulsing in my veins.  
Talsgar and Wilhelm weren't sitting on the steps outside the Inn. I couldn't see them anywhere and started to stop to tell Brynjolf, but let him keep leading me along when I heard Talsgar laughing on the other side of the Inn. I smiled and turned back to the direction Brynjolf and I were headed. He squeezed my hand gently but didn't look at me, my smile widened as I squeezed back. I didn't think it possible, but at that moment I felt both happy and sad at the same time.

He stopped at the riverbank near my father's burnt down house, where I had begun my training for lockpicking and where Brynjolf had given me pointers for sneak. I forced myself not to think about the kiss we shared here and looked around at the familiar landscape. Picturing what it would be like if my father was still alive to tend to it today.  
Brynjolf sighed and ran a hand through his hair, pushing off the tree trunk. He began pacing in front of me. 'I've sorted everything out, lass.' He said in a businesslike voice. 'You're to head to the Temple of the Ancestor Moth and steal the identity of an Imperial named Amber Jaiz. A carriage will be waiting to take her to the Imperial City for a scroll reading. It would be best to keep the girl alive, but if she tries to stop you from completing the mission, kill her. Silence her and travel to the Imperial City. You'll spend a night in The King and Queen Tavern. A Moth Priest will come and retrieve you early the next morning and take you directly to the reading chamber. Once you're there, you'll be given the Elder Scroll and will have to escape with it. It won't be an easy task lass, but I have every confidence in your abilities.'  
'Understood,' I responded coolly.  
He paused in his pacing and fixed me with a fiery gaze. 'Lass … promise me you'll be careful.'  
I forced myself to laugh. 'Brynjolf, stop. You're making it seem like I'm leaving _today_. We still have all night together,' blood flooded my cheeks when I realised that Brynjolf could interpret that statement many ways.  
When a wicked grin tugged at his lips and a dangerously flirty glint shined in his eyes, I knew that Brynjolf had interpreted that the wrong way. I didn't bother correcting myself, but I avoided his gaze for a moment and desperately tried to get a hold over my thoughts.  
'Aye, you're quite right lass. We still have _tonight_,' he said, a mischievous edge to his tone.  
I only rolled my eyes at him and began to turn the mission over in my head. There was so much I needed to get done in such a small amount of time. A few weeks ago, I had decided that I wanted this mission over and done with before the next season began, which was three months away.  
'So lass, what should we do on our last night together?' he asked flirtatiously.  
I almost turned to roll my eyes at him, but he rested his hands on my hips and pressed his massive chest against my shoulder blades. My retort caught in my throat as I felt his warmth merge with mine, making me realise that the air was growing quite chilly. Winter was coming. I pushed away thoughts of when I hoped to return, knowing that if I did indeed manage to complete the mission before the next season, I would be faced with wild snow storms.  
A little breathless, I replied, 'What do you think we should do?'  
Brynjolf hummed thoughtfully, his warm breath brushing against my ear. I arched against him, a traitorous smile tugging at my lips. When he turned me around to face him and leaned down to meet his lips with mine, I knew his answer. We wrapped our arms around the other at the same time, as if the thought had passed between the both of us. Neither of us moved to take the kiss further. If we fully gave ourselves to each other tonight, neither of us would want to let the other go tomorrow.  
I pulled back from the kiss and pressed my head against the hollow in Brynjolf's shoulder. He buried his face in my hair as I listened to his slowing heartbeat.  
'We should probably head back,' I murmured, noting the darkening sky. 'Don't want Talsgar making assumptions.'  
Brynjolf's chest shook as he chuckled. 'If you say so, lass.'  
Nothing was said after that. I didn't move to leave the embrace and Brynjolf didn't let me go. I closed my eyes and relaxed into him, losing myself in his familiar warmth and scent. I tried not to think about how much I would miss this. The air grew colder around us suddenly, my instincts hardened my stomach and I reluctantly pulled back to look at the north-eastern sky. Brynjolf followed my gaze when I laughed softly.  
'Look, even Kyne is trying to tell us to go back,' I joked.  
At his unexpected silence, I glanced up at him to find him looking down at me with that fire burning in his eyes. I couldn't help but get lost in it, my heart pounding irregularly against my sternum. His fingers slid through mine until our palms kissed, he shot me a smile before looking away and pulling me forwards. We made our way back to Ivarstead in silence. Our pace was slower than it probably should've been with the oncoming storm. Even when the slight breeze that smelt strongly of rain suddenly stopped we didn't care to walk faster.


	8. Upon My Return (Dreaming)

_**A/N: **Sorry about the late update, FIRST YEAR OF UNIVERSITY COMPLETE (a little while ago now, but still). I've struggled a lot with this chapter, thus the late upload. But I'M GETTING CLOSER TO MY FAVOURITE PART OF THE PLOT! And yessss I know I'm lazy but I wanted to end my reader's suspence so I have neglected taking a proper read of this chapter. Forgive any grammatical mistakes and sentences that don't quite make sense, I PROMISE I will read over it and fix any I find :)__ If any of you happen to find grammatical mistakes, feel free to tell me in the reviews/comments, thanks! Now that I'm getting to the _more serious parts of my story, the chapters should come in quicker but if not ... you have my sincerest apologies! Anyho, the first few paragraphs of this chapter are in Kirani's present state (not in dreaming, if that makes sense... UGH it's so much easier to show in Microsoft Word), it continues back to her Dreaming state afterwards though.  
__

_Thank you for the continuing support, I hope you enjoy this chapter :) _

___**DISCLAIMER: As you know, I do not own the Elder Scrolls. Therefore, all of the credit involving the game goes to the talented people at Bethesda Softworks. In saying that, some of the characters, a bunch of plot stuffs and mystical happenings that happen in this story belong to me.**___

* * *

For the first time in months I felt my mind begin to stir. There was a warm scent in the air, and I knew it was what roused me. My eyelashes were sealed shut by something crusty, too strong to be the usual build-up that occurred overnight. Through my eyelids I could see that everything was dark … it smelt damp and … unfamiliar. There was a sharp pain in my lower back, and a tingling on my cheek. My head hurt like a horse had kicked it.

_So … HUNGRY …_

Startled I froze, that voice was not mine … or was it? I forced myself to think harder … to try and remember why I was here … and who _I _was. My limbs began to grow stiff once again, the delicious warm scent on the air was cooling and I cooled with it. Heat bubbled in my chest as my brows pulled closer together, for a moment the feeling was foreign to me.

Suddenly, memories of a lifetime exploded in my brain. All of them so strong that my brain began to pound against my skull. Dizziness became me, stars swirled behind my closed eyes and I heard voices that part of me knew weren't coming from around me. Breathing was becoming all the more difficult. There was a huge coldness on my chest, I felt as though I was turning to stone as it slowly spread through my body.

Something vanished … something important … exhaustion pumped through me and I felt myself slipping into darkness once more.

* * *

**Upon My Return... (Dreaming)**

By the time we reached Ivarstead, we were and should've been freezing but neither of us complained. Brynjolf didn't let go of my hand when we stepped into the warm, fire-lit inn. Half of Ivarstead's meagre population was crowded around the fire, dancing and singing drunkenly to the old folk songs Talsgar performed for them. No one but Wilhelm looked up at us as we passed silently to my room. At the sight of our intertwined hands, Wilhelm smiled warmly at me and nodded in approval. I blushed and looked away, the burn in my cheeks only intensified when Brynjolf shut my bedroom door behind us.

'Aren't we going to eat with them?' I asked, my stomach grumbling at the smell of cooking food.

'Aye, lass,' Brynjolf replied, 'later. When we're both clean and warm.'

At that, Brynjolf began to fill the small bathing chamber that was set into the stone floor opposite the bed. He grabbed one of the bath scents from the shelf above him and unstoppered it. The smell of honey, apple and cinnamon filled the small room the moment Brynjolf poured the bottle's contents into the warm water. Done with filling the bath, he turned to look at me. He seemed surprised to find that I was still wearing my armour.

'It's going to be awfully difficult to clean yourself wearing your armour, lass,' he murmured mockingly.

Trying to ignore the burning in my cheeks and the feel of his eyes on me, I began to undo the leather ties and buckles that held my armour to me. Noticing that I was struggling a little with the ties on my torso, Brynjolf wordlessly stepped forwards and brushed my shaking hands away. He undid them easily and the top half of my armour fell from my shoulders, revealing my white undershirt. He tossed my armour on the bed and moved away to undress himself. I dared not look up at him, knowing he was admiring the skin he could now see. I focused on removing my wrist-guards, boots and pants instead.

Taking a shaking breath, I tugged at my undershirt before steeling myself, pulling it off slowly and tossing it on the bed with my armour. The warm air brushed against my bare chest and I felt more than saw Brynjolf go still. Doing my best to continue ignoring him, I peeled off my underwear and dropped them to the ground. I walked over to the bathtub and stepped in, wincing a little as the warmth stung my chilled skin. I hesitated and pulled the band holding in my braid, letting my white-blond hair fall over my shoulders. I lowered myself into the water, positioning myself in such a fashion that I wasn't facing Brynjolf.

I closed my eyes and sighed, content to let the warmth and scent of the water work its soothing magic. When the water was disturbed by Brynjolf sitting down in the bath across from me I didn't open my eyes, but I couldn't help peeking when he began scrubbing himself clean.

His broad shoulders were laced with muscle. I watched, fascinated, as they bulged from Brynjolf's movements. His chest was toned as well, and I admired from his pectoral muscles down to his abdomen before seeing Brynjolf glance up in my peripheral vision and forcing myself to look away. The fire in my cheeks didn't lesson one bit.

'Like what you see, lass?'

Staring at an interestingly formed crack in the clay wall, I ignored the teasing voice of the red-haired Nord. Pulling my gaze away from the wall, I looked down at the bar of soap and washer on the lip of the tub. Trying to hide my shame, I grabbed them and began scrubbing myself clean.

'Not so hard, or you'll be red as a tomato,' Brynjolf laughed, grabbing my wrists in his hands. 'Let me.'

I looked up at him, the burn in my cheeks finally beginning to subside. Without waiting for my apprehension, Brynjolf took the bar of soap and washer and turned me in the bath so I was facing away from him. So softly at first that I could barely feel it, he began to rub the soaped up washer in circles on my shoulders. As he continued, he applied more pressure. The constant tension in my shoulders and along my spine lessened under his touch. Never had I felt so relaxed. I couldn't remember the last time the muscles of my back weren't tensed harder than a rock.

'Letting you leave will be the hardest thing I'll ever do,' Brynjolf whispered, so softly I barely heard it.

He stopped stroking my back, letting the rough fabric washer fall into the water. After a moment I heard him sigh and he rested his forehead between my shoulder blades. I could feel his forehead wrinkle up as he frowned, and the steady beating of his heart rocked us both.

'If I could stay I would, but we've come too far to turn back now,' I murmured, turning my head to look at the door over my shoulder. 'I'll be back before you know it, Bryn.'

He sat up, shaking his head. I turned in the bath to face him, wanting to see the emotion I knew would be in his eyes. He wasn't looking at me and the firelight reflected off his irises, making them look more yellow than green. Not for the first time, I drank in his appearance like it was the last time I would ever see him.

'If the mission goes smoothly, it will take you a few months,' Brynjolf said, watching the candle on the bedside table flicker joyously. 'If even the slightest setback presents itself, you'll be crossing the Jerall's during the most dangerous month.'

I shot him a confident half smile, hiding the fact that those factors were ever-present in my mind. 'I am a Nord, Brynjolf. You know that I will sense the storm coming before it has even had a chance to form. That gives me more than enough time to find shelter.'

His gaze remained fixed on the flickering candle. He was so still he could've been carved from stone. There was a storm in his eyes that contrasted with the forced blank state he kept his face.

'Can we just not talk about it, Bryn? There are many things I would like to do with you tonight and talking about the mission is not one of them.'

For a moment I worried that I'd never be able to coax him out of his thoughts, but as I began searching for something else I could say to comfort him, the storm vanished from his eyes and he grinned down at me.

'We're already halfway there, lass,' he murmured, purposely letting his eyes drop lower than my face and letting them trail up so slowly that by the time his gaze met mine, my cheeks were burning again.

Despite the redness of my cheeks, I fixed him with a stern look. 'That's not what I meant and you know it.'

'Come on, lass,' his grin didn't lesson, 'admit that it's on your mind.'

Under the water, one of his fingers began to lightly stroke the lower half of my thigh. He never moved higher than my mid-thigh, but the gesture was enough to fuel the desire that raised its ugly head every time Brynjolf looked at me a certain way. I resisted the urge to push him away, knowing that it would only prove my lack of self-control to him and encourage him to try harder.

Admiring the playful glint in his eyes, I was struck with the realisation of how much Brynjolf actually meant to me. A smile tugged at my lips as I broke our eye contact to let my thoughts wander. The weeks of my training would have to be the best weeks of my life. If Brynjolf and I continued to grow closer, as we both knew we would, I had no doubt that I'd always look back on this. When we first allowed ourselves to feel for each other.

In the corner of my eye, I saw that Brynjolf's expression softened as he watched me think. The palm of his hand cupped my knee, and I placed my hand over it. When I looked up to meet his gaze, he leaned forwards and kissed me softly. We pulled back at the same time and rested our foreheads together, both of us thinking. He pulled my hand between us and played with my fingers. Tracing the patches of toughened skin that forever marked me as an archer.

'What were you planning on eating?' I asked softly, breaking the pleasant silence that had hung between us.

He shrugged. 'I hadn't given it much thought. Stew would be nice, with some freshly cooked bread.'

I felt my stomach tremble at the sound of it. When I closed my eyes, I could see the heavily scented steam rising from a hot bowl of beef stew and freshly baked bread. I could smell it just thinking about it. The scent of the stew and, mainly, the scent of the bread. Bread that I'd torn apart and buttered to dip into my stew. I could taste the soggy marinated beef and vegetables, all of their flavours merging with various herbs and spices. My stomach roared, shocking me out of my imaginings. I looked warily up at Brynjolf, who was laughing.

'I think your stomach agrees lass,' he said between chuckles.

As I laughed, I took the piece of rough fabric and began to wash Brynjolf's forearms.

'I haven't eaten a proper meal since breakfast, so I think it would agree with any form of food at the moment.'

'Well, we'll finish bathing and go eat then,' he murmured, stroking my forearm as I started cleaning his shoulders.

* * *

The dawn was so cheerful; splashing across the sky in vivid oranges, golds and light blues. I was awed by it, but at the same time my heart sank and raced in my chest as I packed a few of my odds and ends into the knapsack I kept tied to Phantom's saddlebags. I could feel the magic of the enchanted jewellery pumping around my body in time with my heart.

Brynjolf was still asleep in my bed, I hadn't the heart to wake him when he seemed so peaceful. I smiled a little at the thought, ignoring how blurry my vision was becoming.

_You can do this, Kirani,_ I told myself as I sniffed. _You're strong._

Biting my lip to stop it from quivering, I threw Phantom's saddle blanket over his back and tugged at it until it was positioned correctly. He nickered reassuringly and somewhat excitedly, unaware that I was only saddling him so that Brynjolf wouldn't have to do it after I left. Feeling guilty, I stoked his neck lovingly before gently pulling his head to look at me.

'You won't be seeing me for a while, Phantom,' I murmured, proud of how steady my voice was. 'Take good care of Brynjolf for me won't you? I promise I'll be back as soon as I can.' He pulled back and bit at my fingertips with his lips softly.

'The carriage doesn't come for you till mid-noon lass,' startled, I yanked my hand away from Phantom. He jerked his head away, snorting in surprise at the sudden movement. 'What in Oblivion are you doing out here so early?'

I shrugged as I leaned down to pick up Phantom's saddle, which was heavier than I had expected it to be. 'I woke up a few hours ago and couldn't go back to sleep. Figured I'd come out and pack up all of my stuff so you wouldn't have to do it later.'

Brynjolf didn't say anything. I could feel him watching me as I elbowed Phantom in the ribs so he'd exhale before I tightened his saddle straps. I didn't bother the gentle stallion with his bridle, instead I took one of the spare ropes I had in my saddlebags and tied it into two loops so Brynjolf could lead him. He stepped down from the small porch marking the entrance to the inn.

'You should spare pelts and leather with you lass, in case the weather takes a turn,' I turned to look at him, about to say that my Nordic blood would warn me in time to find a cave of some kind. 'I know, lass. Cyrodiil is unfamiliar territory for you however. You know the land between Riften and Helgen well enough to know which caves are safe and which ones aren't. You won't have that knowledge in Cyrodiil, and a tent by the fire will not be enough to get you through a snow storm. We don't know when you'll be homebound lass. Winter is a few months away.' He handed me the folded pelt of the bear we had hunted together, I hadn't noticed he had been holding it until now. 'I just want you to be prepared for anything.'

My heart gave a heavy thump and I smiled weakly up at him, taking the pelt. 'And I will be.' I would miss him, so much, but that didn't mean I wasn't going to do what needed to be done. 'Come on, there's something I wanted to do before leaving.'

* * *

The day was clear, sitting on a snow-covered outcropping of the Throat of the World, I could see Windhelm in the far distance. I sighed, taking in the view of my homeland, wishing I could stay a moment longer. I refused to let myself gaze over in the direction of Riften; the temptation to return there was already strong enough. At least the trees surrounded Ivarstead reminded me of the terrain around the waterlogged city. Neither of us had spoken on the walk up, or in the hours we enjoyed just sitting here. Brynjolf's arms tightened around me and I looked up at him. His gaze was on Ivarstead, I looked down and realised why; the carriage driver was crossing the bridge. My heart dropped. Here goes.

I stood wordlessly, and walked away from him, snow crunching under my boots. Part of me hoped he'd stay sitting there and watch from above as I climbed the carriage and began my journey. It would make it easier. Seeming to hear my thoughts, I heard him stand behind me. 'Kirani.' One firm word. So much emotion. Nervousness suddenly rocked me to my core. 'Promise me that no matter what happens out there, you'll find a way to return. If something goes wrong … if there is a fault in our plan … you abandon that stupid scroll and return to me. You hear me lass?'

I swallowed against the lump rising in my throat. 'I hear you.' After a moment, I continued walking. Brynjolf didn't make a move to follow me, I was glad. Time seemed to slow with every thick beat of my heart. I don't know how I remained standing; let alone walking. I could feel the moment when Brynjolf's eyes were no longer on me; the weight on my shoulders did not lessen one bit. With a deep breath, I descended the last set of stairs and crossed the bridge. The carriage was stopped next to the inn, I watched as the driver dismounted and went inside the tavern. Without hesitation, I marched up the hill towards Phantom and the pack that held all of my belongings. My heart quickened with every step. As I pulled the hooded monk's cloak down from Phantom's saddle, my head started spinning. I leaned against the stocky beast for support. I took a deep breath and picked up my bag. I was just about to climb onto the carriage when the driver exited the cavern. He was quite tall, with a dark tan coloured face. His eyes shined blue underneath the thick curly locks of his sandy blonde hair. His eyes met mine and he smiled, showing off dimples. He was young, I realised, younger than me.

'I'm ready when you are, ma'am,' he said cheerfully as he jumped into his seat. His words flowed together with a heavy Cyrodiilic accent. Hesitantly, I looked up at the cliff where Brynjolf stood. I felt our eyes meet. Without thinking about it, I drew on what little magic I knew and lifted my hands into the sky, launching a purple and gold tinted mage-light in his direction. When he caught it, I felt the magicka drain from me, taking my breath with it. Dizzy again, I struggled to hold consciousness as I told the carriage driver I was ready to leave.

_Goodbye, Brynjolf,_ was my last thought before I passed out in the carriage.


End file.
